THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


H^<^W4m 


Olrtm? 

FROM  THE   EARLIEST  TIMES 
TO  THE  PRESENT  DAY 


THE  GROLIER  SOCIETY 

LONDON 


Elizabeth  Fry  Reading  to  the  Women 
Prisoners  in  Newgate 

The  sympathies  of  the  Quaker  lady,  Elizabeth  Fry,  were 
aroused  by  the  sadly  neglected  condition  of  the  women's 
quarters  in  Newgate  in  1813.  She  formed  the  Ladies'  Com- 
mittee which  secured  many  important  reforms  from  Parlia- 
ment. She  was  a  constant  visitor  to  the  old  prison,  where  she 
brought  hope  and  comfort,  and  wrought  great  changes. 


irjuio^t^  ^v 


■yA  s^] 


T 


(^dronid^s  of  Jimmtf 

FROM    THE    TWELHH    TO 

THE  EIGHTEENTH 

CENTURY 

by 

MAJOR  ARTHUR  GRIFFITHS 

Lale  Inspector  of  Prisons  in  Great  Britain 

Author  of 
"  "Che   Mysteries  of  Police  and  Crime  " 
"  Fifty     Years    of   Public    Seroice,"  etc. 

In  Two  Volumes 

Holump  1 

THE  GROLIER  SOCIETY 

EDITION  NATIONALE 
Limited  to  one  thousand  registered  and  numbered  sets. 


307. 


NUMBER 


/?.  -7- 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

The  combat  with  crime  is  as  old  as  civilization. 
Unceasing  warfare  is  and  ever  has  been  waged 
between  the  law-maker  and  the  law-breaker.  The 
punishments  inflicted  upon  criminals  have  been  as 
various  as  the  nations  devising  them,  and  have  re- 
flected with  singular  fidelity  their  temperaments  or 
development.  This  is  true  of  the  death  penalty 
which  in  many  ages  was  the  only  recognized  punish- 
ment for  crimes  either  great  or  small.  Each  nation 
has  had  its  own  special  method  of  inflicting  it.  One 
was  satisfied  simply  to  destroy  life ;  another  sought 
to  intensify  the  natural  fear  of  death  by  the  added 
horrors  of  starvation  or  the  withholding  of  fluid, 
by  drowning,  stoning,  impaling  or  by  exposing  the 
wretched  victims  to  the  stings  of  insects  or  snakes. 
Burning  at  the  stake  was  the  favourite  method  of 
religious  fanaticism.  This  flourished  under  the  In- 
quisition everywhere,  but  notably  in  Spain  where 
hecatombs  perished  by  the  autos-da-fe  or  "  trials 
of  faith  "  conducted  with  great  ceremony  often  in 
the  presence  of  the  sovereign  himself.     Indeed,  so 


o-> 


vi  GENERAL    INTRODUCTION 

terrible  are  the  records  of  the  ages  that  one  turns 
with  rehef  to  the  more  humane  methods  of  slowly 
advancing  civilization,  —  the  electric  chair,  the  rope, 
the  garotte,  and  even  to  that  sanguinary  "  daughter 
of  the  Revolution,"  "  la  guillotine,"  the  timely  and 
merciful  invention  of  Dr.  Guillotin  which  substi- 
tuted its  swift  and  certain  action  for  the  barbarous 
hacking  of  blunt  swords  in  the  hands  of  brutal  or 
unskilful  executioners. 

Savage  instinct,  however,  could  not  find  full  sat- 
isfaction even  in  cruel  and  violent  death,  but  per- 
force must  glut  itself  in  preliminary  tortures.  Man- 
kind has  exhausted  its  fiendish  ingenuity  in  the  in- 
vention of  hideous  instruments  for  prolonging  the 
sufferings  of  its  victims.  When  we  read  to-day  of 
the  cold-blooded  Chinese  who  condemns  his  crim- 
inal to  be  buried  to  the  chin  and  left  to  be  teased  to 
death  by  flies ;  of  the  lust  for  blood  of  the  Russian 
soldier  who  in  brutal  glee  impales  on  his  bayonet 
the  writhing  forms  of  captive  children;  of  the  re- 
cently revealed  torture-chambers  of  the  Yildiz 
Kiosk  where  Abdul  Hamid  wreaked  his  vengeance 
or  squeezed  millions  of  treasure  from  luckless  foes ; 
or  of  the  Congo  slave  wounded  and  maimed  to 
satisfy  the  greed  for  gold  of  an  unscrupulous  mon- 
arch ;  —  we  are  inclined  to  think  of  them  as  savage 
survivals  in  "  Darkest  Africa  "  or  in  countries  yet 
beyond  the  pale  of  western  civilization.  Yet  it  was 
only  a  few  centuries  ago  that  Spain  "  did  to  death  " 
by  unspeakable  cruelties  the  gentle  races  of  Mexico 


.   s 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION  vii 

and  Peru,  and  sapped  her  own  splendid  vitality  in 
the  woeful  chambers  of  the  Inquisition.  Even  as 
late  as  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  enlight- 
ened France  was  filling  with  the  noblest  and  best 
of  her  land  those  oubliettes  of  which  the  very  names 
are  epitomes  of  woe :  La  Fin  d'Aise,  "  The  End  of 
Ease;"  La  Boucherie,  "The  Shambles;"  and  La 
Fosse,  "  The  Pit  "  or  "  Grave;  "  in  the  foul  depths 
of  which  the  victim  stood  waist  deep  in  water  unable 
to  rest  or  sleep  without  drowning.  Buoyed  up  by 
hope  of  release,  some  endured  this  torture  of  "  La 
Fosse "  for  fifteen  days ;  but  that  was  nature's 
limit.     None  ever  survived  it  longer. 

The  oubliettes  of  the  Conciergerie,  recently  re- 
vealed by  excavations  below  the  level  of  the  Seine, 
vividly  confirm  the  story  of  Masers  de  Latude,  long 
confined  in  a  similar  one  in  Bicetre.  He  says :  "  I 
had  neither  fire  nor  artificial  light  and  prison  rags 
were  my  only  clothing.  To  quench  my  thirst,  I 
sucked  morsels  of  ice  broken  off  from  the  open 
window;  I  was  nearly  choked  by  the  effluvium  from 
the  cellars.  Insects  stung  me  in  the  eyes.  I  had 
nearly  always  a  bad  taste  in  my  mouth,  and  my 
lungs  were  horribly  oppressed.  I  endured  unceas- 
ing pangs  of  hunger,  cold  and  damp;  I  was  at- 
tacked by  scurvy;  in  ten  days  my  legs  and  thighs 
were  swollen  to  twice  their  ordinary  size ;  my  body 
turned  black;  my  teeth  loosened  in  their  sockets 
so  that  I  could  not  masticate ;  I  could  not  speak  and 
was  thought  to  be  dead." 


VIU 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION 


Perhaps  the  refinement  of  torture,  however,  had 
been  reached  under  the  cowardly  and  superstitious 
Louis  XI,  whose  iron  cages  were  of  such  shape 
and  size  that  the  prisoners  could  languish  in  them 
for  years  unable  either  to  stand  upright  or  to 
stretch  full  length  upon  the  floor.  One  feels  the 
grim  humour  of  fate  that  condemned  the  Bishop  of 
Verdun,  their  inventor,  to  be  the  first  to  suffer  in 
them. 

Life-lone:  confinement  under  such  conditions  was 
the  so-called  "  clemency  "  of  rulers  desiring  to  be 
thought  merciful.  Supported  first  by  hope,  then 
deadened  by  despair,  men  endured  life  in  these 
prisons  for  years  only  to  leave  them  bereft  of 
health  or  reason.  The  famous  names  of  those  who 
languished  in  them  is  legion.  Fouquet,  the  default- 
ing minister  of  Louis  XIV,  whose  magnificence  had 
rivalled  that  of  the  king  himself,  was  punished  by 
such  captivity  for  twenty  years.  The  "  Man  with 
the  Iron  Mask,"  whose  identity,  lost  for  three  cen- 
turies, has  been  proved  beyond  a  doubt  after  care- 
ful comparison  of  all  theories,  —  pined  his  life  away 
in  one  of  them,  accused,  like  Dreyfus,  of  having  sold 
a  secret  of  state. 

Records  of  like  cruelty  and  indifference  to  human 
suffering  blackened  the  pages  of  English  history 
until  the  merciful  ministrations  of  John  Howard 
and  of  Elizabeth  Frye  aroused  the  slumbering  pity 
of  Great  Britain,  and  alleviated  the  conditions  of 
prisoners  all  over  the  world. 


GENERAL    INTRODUCTION  ix 

In  all  lands,  in  all  ages,  in  all  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion, man  has  left  grim  records  of  vengeful  passion. 
No  race  has  escaped  the  stigma,  perhaps  no  creed. 
It  would  almost  seem  that  nations  had  vied  with 
each  other  in  the  subtlety  of  their  ingenuity  for  pro- 
ducing sufifering.  The  stoical  Indian,  the  inscru- 
table Chinese,  the  cruel  Turk,  the  brutal  Slav,  the 
philosophic  Greek,  the  suave  and  artistic  Italian,  the 
stolid  German,  the  logical  and  pleasure-loving 
French,  the  aggressive  English,  —  all  have  left 
their  individual  seal  on  these  records  of  "  man's 
inhumanity  to  man." 

From  the  gloom  of  these  old  prisons  have  sprung 
many  of  the  most  fascinating  stories  of  the  world, 
—  stories  so  dramatic,  so  thrilling,  so  pathetic  that 
even  the  magic  fiction  of  Dickens  or  Dumas  pales 
beside  the  dread  realities  of  the  Tower,  the  Bastile, 
the  Spielberg,  the  "  leads  "  of  the  Palace  of  the 
Doges,  the  mines  of  Siberia,  or  the  Black  Hole  of 
C'-.lcutta. 

What  heroic  visions  history  conjures  for  us! 
Columbus  languishing  in  chains  in  Spain ;  Savona- 
rola and  Jean  d'Arc  passing  from  torture  to  the 
stake;  Sir  William  Wallace,  Sidney,  Raleigh,  Lady 
Jane  Grey,  Sir  Thomas  More,  irradiating  the  dim 
cells  of  London's  Tower;  Madame  Roland,  Char- 
lotte Corday,  Marie  Antoinette,  beautifying  the 
foul  recesses  of  the  Conciergerie;  gentle  Madame 
Elizabeth  soothing  the  sorrows  of  the  Temple ;  Sil- 
vio Pellico  in  the  Spielberg;    Settembrini  and  the 


X  GENERAL    INTRODUCTION 

Patriots  of  the  Risorgimento  in  the  prisons  of  Italy ; 
the  myriad  martyrs  of  Russia  in  the  dungeons  of 
the  Czar  or  the  wilds  of  Siberia  —  all  pass  before 
us  in  those  magic  pages,  uttering  in  many  tongues 
but  in  one  accord  their  righteous  and  eternal  protest 
against  the  blind  vengeance  of  man. 


INTRODUCTION 

In  antiquity  and  varied  interest  old  Newgate 
prison,  now  passed  away  before  the  ceaseless  move- 
ment of  London  change,  yields  to  no  place  of 
durance  in  the  world.  A  gaol  stood  on  this  same 
site  for  almost  a  thousand  years.  The  first  prison 
was  nearly  as  old  as  the  Tower  of  London,  and 
much  older  than  the  Bastile.  Hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  "  felons  and  trespassers  "  have  from  first 
to  last  been  incarcerated  within.  To  many  it  must 
have  been  an  abode  of  sorrow,  suffering,  and  un- 
speakable woe,  a  kind  of  terrestrial  inferno,  to  enter 
which  was  to  abandon  every  hope.  Imprisonment 
was  often  lightly  and  capriciously  inflicted  in  days 
before  British  liberties  were  fully  won,  and  innu- 
merable victims  of  tyranny  and  oppression  have 
been  lodged  in  Newgate.  Political  troubles  also 
sent  their  quota.  The  gaol  was  the  half-way  house 
to  the  scaffold  or  the  gallows  for  turbulent  or  short- 
sighted persons  who  espoused  the  losing  side;  it 
was  the  starting-place  for  that  painful  pilgrimage 
to  the  pillory  or  whipping  post  which  was  too  fre- 
quently the  punishment  for  rashly  uttered  libels 
and  philippics  against  constituted  power.    Newgate, 

S 


6  INTRODUCTION 

again,  was  on  the  hig-hroad  to  Smithfield;  in  times 
of  intolerance  and  fierce  religious  dissensions  num- 
bers of  devoted  martyrs  went  thence  to  suffer  for 
conscience'  sake  at  the  stake.  For  centuries  a  large 
section  of  the  permanent  population  of  Newgate, 
as  of  all  gaols,  consisted  of  offenders  against  com- 
mercial laws.  While  fraudulent  bankrupts  were 
hanged,  others  more  unfortunate  than  criminal  were 
clapped  into  gaol  to  linger  out  their  lives  without 
the  chance  of  earning  the  funds  by  which  alone 
freedom  could  be  recovered.  Debtors  of  all  degrees 
were  condemned  to  languish  for  years  in  prison, 
often  for  the  most  paltry  sums.  The  perfectly 
innocent  were  also  detained.  Gaol  deliveries  were 
rare,  and  the  boon  of  arraignment  and  fair  trial 
was  strangely  and  unjustly  withheld,  while  even 
those  acquitted  in  open  court  were  often  haled  back 
to  prison  because  they  were  unable  to  discharge 
the  gaoler's  illegal  fees.  The  condition  of  the  pris- 
oners in  Newgate  was  long  most  deplorable.  They 
were  but  scantily  supplied  with  the  commonest 
necessaries  of  life.  Light  scarcely  penetrated  their 
dark  and  loathsome  dungeons;  no  breath  of  fresh 
air  sweetened  the  fetid  atmosphere  they  breathed; 
that  they  enjoyed  the  luxury  of  water  was  due  to 
the  munificence  of  a  lord  mayor  of  London.  Their 
daily  subsistence  was  most  precarious.  Food, 
clothing,  fuel  were  doled  out  in  limited  quantities 
as  charitable  gifts;  occasionally  prosperous  citizens 
bequeathed  small   legacies   to  be   expended   in   the 


INTRODUCTION  7 

same  articles  of  supply.  These  bare  prison  allow- 
ances were  further  eked  out  by  the  chance  seizures 
in  the  markets;  by  bread  forfeited  as  inferior  or 
of  light  weight,  and  meat  declared  unfit  to  be  pub- 
licly sold.  All  classes  and  categories  of  prisoners 
were  herded  indiscriminately  together :  men  and 
women,  tried  and  untried,  upright  but  misguided 
zealots  with  hardened  habitual  offenders.  The  only 
principle  of  classification  was  a  prisoner's  ability 
or  failure  to  pay  certain  fees;  money  could  pur- 
chase the  squalid  comfort  of  the  master's  side,  but 
no  immunity  from  the  baleful  companionship  of 
felons  equally  well  furnished  with  funds  and  no 
less  anxious  to  escape  the  awful  horrors  of  the 
common  side  of  the  gaol.  The  weight  of  the  chains, 
again,  which  innocent  and  guilty  alike  wore,  de- 
pended upon  the  price  a  prisoner  could  pay  for 
"  easement  of  irons,"  and  it  was  a  common  practice 
to  overload  a  newcomer  with  enormous  fetters  and 
so  terrify  him  into  lavish  disbursement.  The  gaol 
at  all  times  was  so  hideously  overcrowded  that 
plague  and  pestilence  perpetually  ravaged  it,  and 
the  deadly  infection  often  spread  into  the  neigh- 
bouring courts  of  law. 

The  foregoing  is  an  imperfect  but  by  no  means 
highly  coloured  picture  of  Newgate  as  it  existed 
for  hundreds  of  years,  from  the  twelfth  century  to 
the  nineteenth.  The  description  is  supported  by 
historical  records,  somewhat  meagre  at  first,  but 
becoming  more  and  more  ample  and  better  sub- 


8  INTRODUCTION 

stantiated  as  the  period  grows  less  remote.  It  is 
this  actual  Newgate,  with  all  its  terrors  for  the 
sad  population  which  yearly  passed  its  forbidding 
portals,  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  portray. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Introduction 5 

I.    Medieval  Newgate 13 

II.    Newgate  in  the  Sixteenth  Century       .  40 

III.  Newgate  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  .  71 

IV.  Newgate  after  the  Great  Fire       .       .  90 
V.    The  Press  -  yard 129 

VI.    Notable  Executions 156 

VII.    Remarkable  Escapes 210 

VIII.    Newgate  in  the  Eighteenth  Century    .  242 

IX.     Later  Records 277 

X.    Highwaymen  and  Pirates     .       .       .       -  321 


List   of  Illustrations 

Elizabeth  Fry  reading  to  the  women  pris- 
oners IN  Newgate      ....        Frontispiece 

The  Sessions  House,  Clerkenwell  Green, 

London Page      85 

The  Central  Criminal  Court,  Old  Bailey, 

London ''178 

The  Prison  of  Newgate       ....        "       246 


CHRONICLES    OF 
NEWGATE 


CHAPTER   I 

MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE 

Earliest  accounts  of  Newgate  prison  —  The  New  Gate, 
when  built  and  why  —  Classes  of  prisoners  incar- 
cerated —  Brawlers,  vagabonds,  and  "  roarers  "  com- 
mitted to  Newgate  —  Exposure  in  pillory  and  some- 
times mutilation  preceded  imprisonment  —  The  gradual 
concession  of  privileges  to  the  Corporation  —  Corpora- 
tion obtains  complete  jurisdiction  over  Newgate  —  The 
sheriffs  responsible  for  the  good  government  of  prisons 
on  appointment  —  Forbidden  to  farm  the  prison  or  sell 
the  post  of  keeper  —  The  rule  in  course  of  time  con- 
travened, and  keepership  became  purchasable  —  Condi- 
tion of  the  prisoners  in  mediaeval  times  —  Dependent 
on  charity  for  commonest  necessaries  —  A  breviary  be- 
queathed—  Gaol  fell  into  ruin  and  was  rebuilt  by  Whit- 
tington's  executors  in  1422 — This  edifice  two  centuries 
later  restored,  but  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1666. 

The  earliest  authentic  mention  of  Newgate  as 
a  gaol  or  prison  for  felons  and  trespassers  occurs 
in  the  records  of  the  reign  of  King  John.  In  the 
following  reign,  a.  d.  1218,  Henry  HI  expressly 
commands  the  sheriffs  of  London  to  repair  it,  and 
promises  to  reimburse  them  for  their  outlay  from 

13 


14  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

his  own  exchequer.  This  shows  that  at  that  time 
the  place  was  under  the  direct  control  of  the  king, 
and  maintained  at  his  charges.  The  prison  was 
above  the  gate,  or  in  the  gate-house,  as  was  the 
general  practice  in  ancient  times.  Thus  Ludgate 
was  long  used  for  the  incarceration  of  city  debtors. 

To  the  gate-house  of  Westminster  were  com- 
mitted all  offenders  taken  within  that  city;  and 
the  same  rule  obtained  in  the  great  provincial  towns, 
as  at  Newcastle,  Chester,  Carlisle,  York,  and  else- 
where. Concerning  the  gate  itself,  the  New  Gate 
and  its  antiquity,  opinions  somewhat  differ.  Mait- 
land  declares  it  to  be  "  demonstrable  "  that  New- 
gate was  one  of  the  four  original  gates  of  the  city ; 
"  for  after  the  fire  of  London  in  1666,"  he  goes 
on  to  say,  "  in  digging  a  foundation  for  the  present 
Holborn  bridge,  the  vestigia  of  the  Roman  military 
way  called  Watling  Street  were  discovered  pointing 
directly  to  this  gate ;  and  this  I  take  to  be  an  incon- 
testable proof  of  an  original  gate  built  over  the 
said  way  in  this  place." 

Of  that  ancient  Newgate,  city  portal  and  general 
prison-house  combined,  but  scant  records  remain. 
A  word  or  two  in  the  old  chroniclers,  a  passing 
reference  in  the  history  of  those  troublous  times, 
a  few  brief  and  formal  entries  in  the  city  archives 
—  these  are  all  that  have  been  handed  down  to  us. 

But  we  may  read  between  the  lines  and  get  some 
notion  of  mediaeval  Newgate.  Foul,  noisome,  ter- 
rible,   are    the    epithets    applied    to    this    densely 


MEDIEVAL   NEWGATE  15 

crowded  place  of  durance.^  It  was  a  dark,  pestif- 
erous den,  then,  and  for  centuries  later,  perpetually 
ravaged  by  deadly  diseases. 

Its  inmates  were  of  all  categories.  Prisoners  of 
state  and  the  most  abandoned  criminals  were  alike 
committed  to  it.  Howel,  quoted  by  Pennant,  states 
that  Newgate  was  used  for  the  imprisonment  of 
persons  of  rank  long  before  the  Tower  was  applied 
to  that  purpose.  Thus  Robert  de  Baldock,  chan- 
cellor of  the  realm  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II,  to 
whom  most  of  the  miseries  of  the  kingdom  were 
imputed,  was  dragged  to  Newgate  by  the  mob. 
He  had  been  first  committed  to  the  Bishop's  Prison, 
but  was  taken  thence  to  Newgate  as  a  place  of 
more  security;  "but  the  unmerciful  treatment  he 
met  with  on  the  way  occasioned  him  to  die  there 
within  a  few  days  in  great  torment  from  the  blows 
which  had  been  inflicted  on  him."  Again,  Sir 
Thomas  Percie,  Lord  Egremond,  and  other  people 
of  distinction,  are  recorded  as  inmates  in  1457. 
But  the  bulk  of  the  prisoners  were  of  meaner  con- 
dition, relegated  for  all  manner  of  crimes.  Some 
were  parlous  offenders.  There  w^as  but  little  se- 
curity for  life  or  property  in  that  old  London,  yet 
the  law  made  constant  war  against  the  turbulent 
and  reckless  roughs.  Stowe  draws  a  lively  picture 
of  the  state  of  the  city  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth 

^An  entry  in  a  letter  book  at  Guildhall  speaks  of  the 
"  heynouse  gaol  of  Newgate,"  and  its  fetid  and  corrupt 
atmosphere.     Loftie,  "  Hist,  of  London,"  vol.  i.  437. 


i6  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

century.  One  nigfht  a  brother  of  Earl  Ferrers  was 
slain  privately  in  London.  The  king  (Edward  I) 
on  hearing  this  *'  swore  that  he  would  be  avenged 
on  the  citizens."  It  was  then  a  common  practice  in 
the  city  for  "  an  hundred  or  more  in  company  of 
young  and  old  to  make  nightly  invasions  upon  the 
houses  of  the  wealthy,  to  the  intent  to  rob  them, 
and  if  they  found  any  man  stirring  in  the  city  they 
would  presently  murder  him,  insomuch  that  when 
night  was  come  no  man  durst  adventure  to  walk  in 
the  streets."  Matters  at  length  came  to  a  crisis. 
A  party  of  citizens,  young  and  wealthy,  not  mere 
rogues,  attacked  the  "  storehouse  of  a  certain  rich 
man,"  and  broke  through  the  wall.  The  "  good 
man  of  the  house  "  was  prepared  and  lay  in  wait 
for  them  "  in  a  corner,"  and  saw  that  they  were 
led  by  one  Andrew  Bucquinte,  who  carried  a  burn- 
ing brand  in  one  hand  and  a  pot  of  coals  in  the 
other,  which  he  essayed  to  kindle  with  the  brand. 
Upon  this  the  master,  crying  "  Thieves !  "  rushed 
at  Bucquinte  and  smote  off  his  right  hand.  All 
took  to  flight  "  saving  he  that  had  lost  his  hand," 
whom  the  good  man  in  the  next  morning  delivered 
to  Richard  de  Lucy,  the  king's  justice.  The  thief 
turned  informer,  and  "  appeached  his  confederates, 
of  whom  many  were  taken  and  many  were  fled." 
One,  however,  was  apprehended,  a  citizen  "  of  great 
countenance,  credit,  and  wealth,  named  John  Senex, 
or  John  the  Old,  who,  when  he  could  not  acquit 
himself  by  the  water  dome,  offered  the  king  five 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE  17 

hundred  marks  for  his  acquittal ;  but  the  king  com- 
manded that  he  should  be  hanged,  which  was  done, 
and  the  city  became  more  quiet." 

Long  before  this,  however,  Edward  I  had  dealt 
very  sharply  with  evil-doers.  By  the  suspension  of 
corporation  government  following  that  king's  con- 
flict with  the  city  authority,  "  all  kinds  of  licentious- 
ness had  got  leave  to  go  forward  without  control." 

At  length  the  frequency  of  robberies  and  mur- 
ders produced  the  great  penal  statute  of  the  13 
Edward  I  (1287).  By  this  act  it  was  decreed  that 
no  stranger  should  wear  any  weapon,  or  be  seen 
in  the  streets  after  the  ringing  of  the  couvre-feu 
bell  at  St.  Martin's-le-Grand ;  that  no  vintners  and 
victuallers  should  keep  open  house  after  the  ring- 
ing of  the  said  bell  under  heavy  fines  and  penalties; 
that  "  whereas  it  was  customary  for  profligates 
to  learn  the  art  of  fencing,  who  were  thereby  em- 
boldened to  commit  the  most  unheard-of  villainies, 
no  such  school  should  be  kept  in  the  city  for  the 
future  upon  the  penalty  of  forty  marks  for  every 
offence."  Most  of  the  aforesaid  villainies  were  said 
to  be  committed  by  foreigners  who  incessantly 
crowded  into  London  from  all  parts;  it  was  there- 
fore ordered  that  no  person  not  free  of  the  city 
should  be  suffered  to  reside  therein ;  and  even  many 
persons  thus  avouched  were  obliged  to  give  security 
for  their  good  behaviour. 

The  "  Liber  Albus,"  as  translated  by  Riley,  gives 
the  penalties  for  brawling  and  breaking  the  peace 


i8  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

about  this  date.  It  was  ordained  that  any  person 
who  should  draw  a  sword,  misericorde  (a  dagger 
with  a  thin  blade  used  for  mercifully  despatching 
a  wounded  enemy),  or  knife,  or  any  arm,  even 
though  he  did  not  strike,  should  pay  a  fine  to  the 
city  of  half  a  mark,  or  be  imprisoned  in  Newgate 
for  fifteen  days.  If  he  drew  blood  the  fine  was 
twenty  shillings,  or  forty  days  in  Newgate;  in 
striking  with  the  fist  two  shillings,  or  eight  days' 
imprisonment,  and  if  blood  was  drawn  forty  pence, 
or  twelve  days.  Moreover,  the  offenders  were  to 
find  good  sureties  before  release,  and  those  on 
whom  the  offence  was  committed  had  still  recovery 
by  process  of  law. 

Nor  were  these  empty  threats.  The  laws  and 
ordinances  against  prowlers  and  vagabonds,  or 
night-walkers,  as  they  were  officially  styled,  were 
continually  enforced  by  the  attachment  of  offenders. 
Many  cases  are  given  in  the  memorials  of  London. 

Thus  Elmer  de  Multone  was  attached  on  indict- 
ment as  a  common  night-walker  in  the  ward  of 
Chepe;  in  the  day,  it  was  charged,  he  was  wont 
to  entice  persons  and  strangers  unknown  to  a  tavern 
and  there  deceive  them  by  using  false  dice.  He  was 
furthermore  indicted  "  in  Tower  ward  for  being  a 
cruiser  and  night-walker  against  the  peace,  as  also 
for  being  a  common  '  roarer.'  ^     Multone  was  com- 

*The  term  "roarer,"  and  "roaring  boy,"  signifying  a  riot- 
ous person,  was  in  use  in  Shakespeare's  day,  and  still  survives 
in  slang    (Riley). 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE  19 

mitted  to  prison.  Others  met  wifh  similar  treat- 
ment. John  de  Rokeslee  was  attached  as  being 
held  suspected  of  evil  and  of  beating  men  coming 
into  the  city;"  "  Peter  le  Taverner,  called  Holer," 
the  same,  and  for  going  with  sword  and  buckler 
and  other  arms ;  John  Blome  was  indicted  "  as  a 
common  vagabond  for  committing  batteries  and 
other  mischiefs  in  the  ward  of  Aldresgate  and 
divers  other  wards."  "  A  chaplain,"  our  modern 
curate,  Richard  Heryng,  was  attached  on  similar 
charges,  but  was  acquitted.  Not  only  were  the 
"  roarers  "  themselves  indicted  when  taken  in  this 
act,  but  also  those  who  harboured  them,  like  John 
Baronu,  mentioned  in  the  same  document  as  at- 
tached for  keeping  open  house  at  night,  and  re- 
ceiving night-walkers  and  players  at  dice.  The 
prohibition  against  fencing-masters  was  also 
rigorously  enforced,  as  appears  by  the  indictment 
of  "  Master  Roger  le  Skirmisour,  for  keeping  a 
fencing  school  for  divers  men,  and  for  enticing 
thither  the  sons  of  respectable  persons  so  as  to 
waste  and  spend  the  property  of  their  fathers  and 
mothers  upon  bad  practices,  the  result  being  that 
they  themselves  become  bad  men.  Master  Roger, 
upon  proof  to  a  jury  that  he  was  guilty  of 
the  trespasses  aforesaid,  was  committed  to  New- 
gate." 

Incarceration  in  Newgate,  however,  was  meted 
out  promptly  for  other  offences  than  those  against 
which  the  last-mentioned  legislation  was  directed. 


20  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Priests  guilty  of  loose  living,  Jews  accused  rightly 
or  wrongly,  now  of  infanticide,  of  crucifying  chil- 
dren, now  of  coining  and  clipping,  found  them- 
selves in  the  gaol  for  indefinite  periods.  People, 
again,  w^ho  adulterated  or  sold  bad  food  were  in- 
continently clapped  into  gaol.  Thus  William 
Cokke  of  Hesse  (or  Hayes)  was  charged  with 
carrying  a  sample  of  wheat  in  his  hand  in  the 
market  within  Newgate,  and  following  one  Will- 
iam, the  servant  of  Robert  de  la  Launde,  goldsmith, 
about  from  sack  to  sack,  as  the  latter  was  seeking 
to  buy  wheat,  telling  him  that  such  wheat  as  the 
sample  could  not  be  got  for  less  than  twenty-one 
pence  per  bushel,  whereas  on  the  same  day  and  at 
the  same  hour  the  same  servant  could  have  bought 
the  same  wheat  for  eighteen  pence.  Cokke,  when 
questioned  before  the  mayor,  recorder,  and  certain 
of  the  aldermen,  acknowledged  that  he  had  done 
this  to  enhance  the  price  of  wheat  to  the  prejudice 
of  all  the  people.  He  was  in  consequence  com- 
mitted to  gaol,  and  sentenced  also  to  have  the 
punishment  of  the  pillory.  The  same  fate  over- 
took Alan  de  Lyndeseye  and  Thomas  de  Patemere, 
bankers,  who  were  brought  before  the  bench  at 
Guildhall,  and  with  them  "  bread  they  had  made 
of  false,  putrid,  and  rotten  materials,  through 
which  persons  who  bought  such  bread  were  de- 
ceived and  might  be  killed."  The  fear  of  im- 
prisonment, again,  was  before  the  eyes  of  all  who 
sought  to  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  the  mar- 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE  21 

kets.  Thus  it  is  recorded  in  the  ordinances  of  the 
cheesemongers,  that  "  whereas  the  hokesters  (huck- 
sters) and  others  who  sell  such  wares  by  retail  do 
come  and  regrate  such  cheese  and  butter  before 
prime  rung,  and  before  that  the  commonalty  has 
been  served,  may  it  be  ordained  that  no  such 
hokesters  shall  buy  of  any  foreigner  before  the 
hour  of  prime  on  pain  of  imprisonment  at  the  will 
of  the  mayor."  Similar  penalties  were  decreed 
against  "  regrating "  fish  and  other  comestibles 
for  the  London  markets. 

In  1 3 16  Gilbert  Peny  was  bound  in  the  third  time 
in  default  for  selling  bread  deficient  in  weight.  He 
had  been  twice  drawn  on  the  hurdle,  and  it  was 
therefore  now  adjudged  that  he  should  be  drawn 
once  more,  and  should  then  forswear  the  trade  of 
a  baker  in  the  city  for  ever.  One  of  many  similar 
cases  is  that  of  William  Spalyng,  who,  for  selling 
putrid  beef  at  "  les  Stokkes,"  the  stocks  market 
near  Walbrook,  was  put  upon  the  pillory,  and  the 
carcasses  were  burnt  beneath.  Another  who  made 
shoes  of  unlaw^ful  material  had  them  forfeited. 
Bakers  who  stole  dough  from  the  moulding- 
boards  of  other  bakers  were  exposed  on  the  pillory 
w^ith  the  dough  hung  about  their  necks.  Richard 
le  Forester,  for  attempting  to  defraud  Avith  a 
false  garland  or  metal  chaplet  for  the  head,  was 
sentenced  to  stand  in  the  pillory,  and  afterwards 
to  forswear  the  city  for  a  year  and  a  day.  Traders 
convicted   of  having  blankets   vamped   in   foreign 


22  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

parts  with  the  hair  of  oxen  and  of  cows  were 
punished,  and  the  blankets  were  burnt  under  the 
pillory  on  Cornhill.  Similarly,  false  gloves,  braces, 
and  pouches  were  burnt  in  the  High  Street  of 
Chepe  near  the  stone  cross  there.  John  Penrose, 
a  taverner,  convicted  of  selling  unsound  wine,  was 
adjudged  to  drink  a  draught  of  the  said  wine,  and 
the  remainder  was  then  poured  out  on  his  head. 
Alice,  wife  of  Robert  de  Cranstom,  was  put  in 
the  "  thew,"  or  pillory  for  women,  for  selling  ale 
by  short  measure;  and  so  was  Margery  Hore  for 
selling  putrid  soles,  the  fish  being  burnt,  and  the 
cause  of  her  punishment  proclaimed.  Two  servants 
of  John  Naylere  were  placed  in  the  stocks  upon 
Cornhill  for  one  hour,  and  their  sacks  burnt  beside 
them,  for  selling  a  deficient  measure  of  charcoal, 
while  their  master's  three  horses  were  seized  and 
detained  by  the  mayor's  sergeant  until  he  (Naylere) 
came  and  answered  for  the  aforesaid  falsity  and 
deceit.  William  Avecroft  having  unsound  wine, 
the  sheriffs  were  ordered  to  pour  all  the  wine  in 
the  street  and  wholly  make  away  with  it,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  city. 

Interesting  reference  may  also  be  made  to  the 
"  Liber  Albus "  which  contains  other  ordinances 
against  brawlers  and  loose  livers.  The  former, 
whether  male  or  female,  were  taken  to  the  pillory, 
carrying  a  distaff  dressed  with  flax  and  preceded 
by  minstrels.  The  latter,  whether  male,  female,  or 
clerics,    were   marched   behind   music   to   Newgate 


MEDIEVAL   NEWGATE  23 

and  into  the  Tun  in  Cornhill.^  Repeated  offences 
were  visited  with  expulsion,  and  the  culprits  were 
compelled  to  forswear  the  city  for  ever.  The  men 
on  exposure  had  their  heads  and  beards  shaved, 
except  a  fringe  on  their  heads  two  inches  in  breadth ; 
women  who  made  the  penance  in  a  hood  of  "  rag  " 
or  striped  cloth  had  their  hair  cut  round  about 
their  heads.  Worse  cases  of  both  sexes  were 
shaved,  like  "  an  appealer,"  or  false  informer. 
The  crime  of  riotous  assembling  was  very  sharply 
dealt  with,  as  appears  from  the  proclamation  made 
on  the  king's  (Edward  III)  departure  for  France. 
It  was  then  ordained  that  "  no  one  of  the  city,  of 
whatsoever  condition  he  shall  be,  shall  go  out  of  the 
city  to  maintain  parties,  such  as  taking  leisure^  or 
holding  'days  of  love'  (days  of  reconciliation  be- 
tween persons  at  variance),  or  making  other  congre- 
gations within  the  city  or  without  in  disturbance 
of  the  peace  of  our  lord  the  king,  or  in  affray  of  the 
people,  and  to  the  scandal  of  the  city."  Any  found 
guilty  thereof  were  to  be  taken  and  put  into  the 
prison  of  Newgate,  and  there  retained  for  a  year 
and  a  day;  and  if  he  was  a  freeman  of  the  city,  he 
lost  his  freedom  for  ever. 

The  city  authorities  appear  to  have  been 
very     anxious     to     uphold      their     prerogatives, 

*  A  prison  for  night-walkers  and  other  suspicious  persons, 
and  called  the  Tun  because  the  same  was  built  somewhat  in 
fashion  of  a  Tun  standing  on  the  one  end.  It  was  built  in 
1282  by  Henry  Walers,  mayor. 


24  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

jealous  of  their  good  name,  and  to  have  readily 
availed  themselves  of  Newgate  as  a  place  of 
punishment  for  any  who  impugned  it.  A  certain 
John  de  Hakford,  about  the  middle  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  was  charged  with  perjury  in 
falsely  accusing  the  chief  men  in  the  city  of  con- 
spiracy. For  this  he  was  remanded  by  the  mayor 
and  aldermen  to  Newgate,  there  to  remain  until 
they  shall  be  better  advised  as  to  their  judgment. 
A  little  later,  on  Saturday  the  morrow  of  St. 
Nicholas  (6  Dec,  1364),  this  judgment  was  de- 
livered, to  the  effect  that  the  said  John  shall 
remain  in  prison  for  one  whole  year  and  a  day, 
and  the  said  John  within  such  year  shall  four  times 
have  the  punishment  of  the  pillory,  that  is  tO'  say, 
one  day  in  each  quarter  of  the  year,  beginning  on 
the  Saturday  aforesaid,  and  in  this  manner:  "  The 
said  John  shall  come  out  of  Newgate  without  hood 
or  girdle,  barefoot  and  unshod,  with  a  whetstone 
hung  by  a  chain  from  his  neck  and  lying  on  his 
breast,  it  being  marked  with  the  words  *  a  false 
liar,'  and  there  shall  be  a  pair  of  trumpets  trumpet- 
ing before  him  on  his  way  to  the  pillory,  and  there 
the  cause  of  this  punishment  shall  be  solemnly  pro- 
claimed, and  the  said  John  shall  remain  in  the 
pillory  for  three  hours  of  the  day,  and  from  thence 
shall  be  taken  back  to  Newgate  in  the  same  manner, 
there  to  remain  until  his  punishment  be  completed 
in  manner  aforesaid."  Tliis  investiture  of  the 
whetstone  was  commonly  used  as  a  punishment  for 


MEDIEVAL    NEWGATE  25 

misstatement;^  for  it  is  recorded  in  1371  that  one 
Nicholas  Mollere,  servant  of  John  Toppesfield, 
smith,  had  the  punishment  of  the  pillory  and  whet- 
stone for  "  circulating  lies,"  amongst  others  that 
the  prisoners  at  Newgate  were  to  be  taken  to  the 
Tower  of  London,  and  that  there  was  to  be  no 
longer  a  prison  at  Newgate. 

A  sharper  sentence  was  meted  out  about  the 
same  date  to  William  Hughlot,  who  for  a  mur- 
derous assault  upon  an  alderman  was  sentenced 
to  lose  his  hand,  and  precept  was  given  to  the 
sheriffs  of  London  to  do  execution  of  the  judg- 
ment aforesaid. 

Upon  this  an  axe  was  brought  into  court  by  an 
officer  of  the  sheriffs,  and  the  hand  of  the  said 
William  was  laid  upon  the  block,  there  to  be  cut 
off.  Whereupon  John  Rove  —  the  alderman  ag- 
grieved —  in  reverence  of  our  lord  the  king,  and 
at  the  request  of  divers  lords,  who  entreated  for 
the  said  William,  begged  of  the  mayor  and  alder- 
men that  the  judgment  might  be  remitted,  which 
was  granted  accordingly.  The  culprit  was,  how- 
ever, punished  by  imprisonment,  with  exposure  on 
the  pillory,  wearing  a  whetstone,  and  he  was  also 

'  Our  ancestors,  with  a  strong  love  for  practical  jokes  and 
an  equally  strong  aversion  to  falsehood  and  boasting,  checked 
an  indulgence  in  such  vices  when  they  became  ofifensive  by 
very  plain  satire.  A  confirmed  liar  was  presented  with  a 
whetstone  to  jocularly  infer  that  his  invention,  if  he  con- 
tinued to  use  it  so  freely,  would  require  sharpening.  — 
Chambers's  "Book  of  Days,"  ii.  45. 


26  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

ordered  to  carry  a  lighted  wax  candle  weighing 
three  pounds  through  Chepe  and  Fleet  Streets  to 
St.  Dunstan's  Church,  where  he  was  to  make  offer- 
ing of  the  same. 

However  sensitive  of  their  good  name,  the 
mayor  and  aldermen  of  those  times  seem  to  have 
been  fairly  upright  in  their  administration  of  the 
law.    The  following  case  shows  this : 

A  man  named  Hugh  de  Beone,  arraigned  before 
the  city  coroner  and  sheriff  for  the  death  of  his 
wife,  stood  mute,  and  refused  to  plead,  so  as  to 
save  his  goods  after  sentence.  For  thus  "  refusing 
the  law  of  England,"  the  justiciary  of  our  lord  the 
king  for  the  delivery  of  the  gaol  of  Newgate,  com- 
mitted him  back  to  prison,  "  there  in  penance  to 
remain  until  he  should  be  dead," 

Long  years  elapsed  between  the  building  of 
Newgate  and  the  date  when  the  city  gained  com- 
plete jurisdiction  over  the  prison.  King  Henry 
ni's  orders  to  repair  the  gaol  at  his  own  charge 
has  been  mentioned  already.  Forty  years  later 
the  same  monarch  pretended  to  be  keenly  con- 
cerned in  the  good  government  of  Newgate.  Re- 
turning from  Bordeaux  when  his  son  Edward  had 
married  the  sister  of  the  King  of  Spain,  Henry 
passed  through  Dover  and  reached  London  on 
St.  John's  Day.  The  city  sent  to  congratulate 
him  on  his  safe  arrival,  the  messengers  taking  with 
them  a  humble  offering  of  one  hundred  pounds. 
The  avaricious  king  was  dissatisfied,  and,  instead 


MEDIiEVAL   NEWGATE 


27 


of  thanking  them,  intimated  that  if  they  would 
win  his  thanks  they  must  enlarge  their  present; 
whereupon  they  gave  him  a  "  valuable  piece  of 
plate  of  exquisite  workmanship,  which  pacified 
him  for  the  present."  But  Henry  was  resolved  to 
squeeze  more  out  of  the  wealthy  burgesses  of  Lon- 
don. An  opportunity  soon  offered  when  a  clerk 
convict,  one  John  Frome,  or  Offrem,^  charged 
with  murdering  a  prior,  and  committed  for  safe 
custody  to  Newgate,  escaped  therefrom.  The 
murdered  man  was  a  cousin  of  Henry's  queen, 
and  the  king,  affecting  to  be  gravely  displeased  at 
this  gross  failure  in  prison  administration,  sum- 
moned the  mayor  and  sheriffs  to  appear  before 
him  and  answer  the  matter.  The  mayor  laid  the 
fault  from  him  to  the  sheriffs,  forasmuch  as  to 
them  belonged  the  keeping  of  all  prisoners  within 
the  city.  The  mayor  was  therefore  allowed  to 
return  home,  but  the  sheriffs  remained  prisoners 
in  the  Tower  "  by  the  space  of  a  month  or  more ;" 
and  yet  they  excused  themselves  in  that  the  fault 
rested  chiefly  with  the  bishop's  officers,  the  latter 
having,  at  their  lord's  request,  sent  the  prisoner 
to  Newgate,  but  being  still  themselves  responsible 
with  the  bishop  for  his  safe-keeping.  These 
excuses  did  not  satisfy  the  king,  who,  "  according 
to  his  usual  justice,"  says  Noorthouck,  "  demanded 
of   the   city,   as   an    atonement   of   the  pretended 

*  Noorthouck  calls   him  John   Gate.     See  "Hist,   of  Lon- 
don," p.  49. 


28  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

crime,  no  less  than  the  sum  of  three  thousand 
marks."  The  fine  was  not  immediately  forth- 
coming, whereupon  he  degraded  both  the  sheriffs, 
and  until  the  citizens  paid  up  the  enormous  sum 
demanded,  he  caused  the  chief  of  them  to  be  seized 
and  clapped  into  prison. 

The  city  was  ready  enough,  however,  to  pur- 
chase substantial  privileges  in  hard  cash.  Many 
of  its  early  charters  were  thus  obtained  from 
necessitous  kings.  In  this  way  the  Corporation 
ransomed,  so  to  speak,  its  ancient  freedom  and 
the  right  of  independent  government. 

In  1327  a  further  point  was  gained.  The  sup- 
port of  the  citizens  had  been  freely  given  to  Queen 
Isabella  and  her  young  son  in  the  struggle  against 
Edward  II.  On  the  accession  of  Edward  III  a 
new  charter,  dated  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign, 
was  granted  to  the  city  of  London.  After  con- 
firming the  ancient  liberties,  it  granted  many  new 
privileges ;  chief  among  them  was  the  concession 
that  the  mayor  of  London  should  be  one  of  the 
justices  for  gaol  delivery  of  Newgate,  and  named 
in  every  commission  for  that  purpose.  The  king's 
marshal  might  in  future  hold  no  court  within  the 
boundary  of  the  city,  nor  were  citizens  to  be 
called  upon  to  plead,  beyond  them,  for  anything 
done  wnthin  the  liberties.  No  market  might  be 
kept  within  seven  miles  of  London,  while  the 
citizens  were  permitted  to  hold  fairs  and  a  court 
of  "  pye  powder  "  therein  ;  in  other  words,  a  court 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE 


29 


for  the  summary  disposal  of  all  offences  com- 
mitted by  hawkers  or  peddlers,  or  perambulating 
merchants,  who  have  /<:^  picds  poudres,  or  are 
"  dusty- footed."  ^  Other  privileges  were  obtained 
from  the  king  during  his  reign.  A  second  charter 
granted  them  the  bailiwick  of  Southwark,  a  vil- 
lage which  openly  harboured  "  felons,  thieves,  and 
other  .malefactors,"  who  committed  crimes  in  the 
city  and  fled  to  Southwark  for  sanctuary.  Again, 
the  election  of  the  mayor  was  established  on  a 
more  settled  plan,  and  vested  in  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  for  the  time  being.  Another  charter  con- 
ceded to  the  Corporation  the  honour  of  having  gold 
and  silver  maces  borne  before  the  chief  functionary, 
who  about  this  period  became  first  entitled  to  take 
rank  as  lord  mayor.  The  vast  wealth  and  im- 
portance of  this  great  civic  dignitary  was  to  be 
seen  in  the  state  he  maintained.  The  lord  mayor 
even  then  dispensed  a  princely  hospitality,  and  one 
eminent  citizen  in  his  reign,  Henry  Picard  by  name, 
had  the  honour  of  entertaining  four  sovereigns 
at  his  table,  viz.,  the  Kings  of  England,  France, 
Scotland,  and  Cyprus,  with  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  many  more  notables.  This  Picard  was  one  of 
the  Guild  of  Merchant  Vintners  of  Gascony,  a 
Bordeaux  wine-merchant,  in  fact,  and  a  Gascon 
by   birth,   although   a   naturalized   subject   of   the 

*  Sir  Edward  Coke  derives  the  title  of  the  court  from  the 
fact  that  justice  was  done  in  them  as  speedily  as  dust  can 
fall   from  the   foot. 


30  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

English  king.     The  vintners  gave  the  city  several 
lord  mayors. 

Richard  II  was  not  so  well  disposed  towards  the 
city.  Recklessly  extravagant,  wasteful  and  profuse 
in  his  way  of  living,  he  was  always  in  straits  for 
cash.  The  money  needed  for  his  frivolous  amuse- 
ments and  ostentatious  display  he  wrung  from  the 
Corporation  by  forfeiting  its  charters,  which  were 
only  redeemed  by  the  payment  of  heavy  fines.  The 
sympathies  of  the  city  were  therefore  with  Henry 
Bolingbroke  in  the  struggle  which  followed.  It 
was  able  to^  do  him  good  service  by  warning  him 
of  a  plot  against  his  life,  and  Henr}%  now  upon 
the  throne,  to  show  his  gratitude,  and  "  cultivate 
the  good  understanding  thus  commenced  with  the 
city,  granted  it  a  new  charter."  The  most  im- 
portant clause  of  Henry's  charter  was  that  which 
entrusted  the  citizens,  their  heirs  and  successors, 
with  the  custody  "  as  well  of  the  gates  of  Newgate 
and  Ludgate,  as  all  other  gates  and  posterns  in 
the  same  city." 

By  this  time  the  gate  and  prison  had  passed 
under  the  control  of  the  civic  authorities,  and  they 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  contributing  to  its  charges. 
This  appears  from  an  entry  as  far  back  as  Sep- 
tember, 1339,  in  the  account  of  expenditure  ol 
Thomas  de  Maryus,  chamberlain.  The  item  is  for 
"  moneys  delivered  to  William  Simond,  sergeant 
of  the  chamber,  by  precept  of  the  mayor  and  alder- 
men,  for  making  the  pavement  within   Newgate, 


MEDIEVAL   NEWGATE 


31 


£7  6s  Sd."  How  complete  became  the  power  and 
responsibility  of  the  Corporation  and  its  officers  is 
lo  be  seen  in  the  account  given  in  the  "  Liber 
Albus  "  of  the  procedure  when  new  sheriffs  were 
appointed.  They  were  sworn  on  appointment,  and 
with  them  their  officers,  among  whom  were  the 
governor  of  Newgate  and  his  clerk.  After  dinner 
on  the  same  day  of  appointment  the  old  and  new 
sheriffs  repaired  to  Newgate,  where  the  new  officials 
took  over  all  the  prisoners  "  by  indenture  "  made 
between  them  and  the  old.^  They  were  also  bound 
to  "  place  one  safeguard  there  at  their  own  peril," 
and  were  forbidden  to  "  let  the  gaol  to  fenn  or 
farm." 
Other   restrictions  were  placed  upon  them.     It 

*  Sheriff  Hoare  (1740-1)  tells  us  how  the  names  of  the 
prisoners  in  each  gaol  were  read  over  to  him  and  his  col- 
leagues ;  the  keepers  acknowledged  them  one  by  one  to  be  in 
their  custody,  and  then  tendered  the  keys,  which  were  deliv- 
ered back  to  them  again,  and  after  executing  the  indentures, 
the  sheriffs  partook  of  sack  and  walnuts,  provided  by  the 
keepers  of  the  prison,  at  a  tavern  adjoining  Guildhall.  For- 
merly the  sheriffs  attended  the  lord  mayor  on  Easter  Eve 
through  the  streets  to  collect  charity  for  the  prisoners  in 
the  city  prison.  Sheriffs  were  permitted  to  keep  prisoners 
in  their  own  houses,  hence  the  Sponging  Houses.  The 
"  Sheriffs'  Fund "  was  started  in  1807  by  Sir  Richard  Phil- 
lips, who,  in  his  letter  to  the  Livery  of  London,  states  that 
he  found,  on  visiting  Newgate,  so  many  claims  on  his 
charity  that  he  could  not  meet  a  tenth  part  of  them.  A 
suggestion  to  establish  a  sheriffs'  fund  was  thereupon  made 
public  and  found  general  support.  In  1867  the  fund 
amounted  to  £13,000. 


32 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


was  the  sheriffs'  duty  also,  upon  the  vigil  of  St. 
Michael,  on  vacating  their  office,  to  resign  into  the 
hands  of  the  mayor  for  the  time  being  the  keys 
of  Newgate,  the  cocket  or  seal  of  Newgate,  and  all 
other  things  pertaining  unto  the  said  sheriffwick. 
All  the  civic  authorities,  mayor,  sheriffs,  aldermen, 
and  their  servants,  including  the  gaoler  of  New- 
gate, were  forbidden  to  brew  for  sale,  keep  an 
oven,  or  let  carts  for  hire ;  "  nor  shall  they  be 
regrators  of  provisions,  or  hucksters  of  ale,  or  in 
partnership  with  such."  Penalties  were  attached 
to  the  breach  of  these  regulations.  It  was  laid 
down  that  any  who  took  the  oath  and  afterwards 
contravened  it,  or  any  who  would  not  agree  to 
abide  by  the  ordinance,  should  be  forthwith 
"  ousted  from  his  office  for  ever."  It  was  also 
incumbent  upon  the  sheriffs  to  put  "  a  man  suf- 
ficient, and  of  good  repute,  to  keep  the  gaol  of 
Newgate  in  due  manner,  without  taking  anything 
of  him  for  such  keeping  thereof,  by  covenant  made 
in  private  or  openly."  Moreover,  the  gaoler  so 
appointed  swore  before  the  lord  mayor  and  alder- 
men that  "  neither  he  nor  any  of  them  shall  take 
fine  or  extortionate  charge  from  any  prisoner  by 
putting  on  or  taking  off  his  irons,  or  shall  receive 
moneys  extorted  from  such  prisoners."  He  was 
permitted  to  levy  fourpence  from  each  upon  release, 
"  as  from  ancient  time  has  been  the  usage,  but  he 
shall  take  fees  from  no  person  at  his  entrance 
there;  "  indeed,  he  was  warned  that  if  he  practised 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE  33 

extortion  he  would  be  "  ousted  from  his  office," 
and  punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  mayor,  alder- 
men, and  common  council  of  the  city. 

It  will  be  made  pretty  plain  in  subsequent  pages, 
that  these  wise  and  righteous  regulations  were  both 
flagrantly  ignored  and  systematically  contravened. 
The  rule  against  farming  out  the  prison  may  have 
been  observed,  and  it  cannot  be  clearly  proved  that 
the  sheriffs  ever  took  toll  from  the  gaoler.  But  the 
spirit  of  the  law,  if  not  its  letter,  was  broken  by 
the  custom  which  presently  grew  general  of  making 
the  gaolership  a  purchasable  appointment.  Thus 
the  buying  and  selling  of  offices,  of  army  com- 
missions, for  instance,  as  we  have  seen  practised 
till  recent  years  in  England,  at  one  time  extended 
also  to  the  keeperships  of  gaols.  It  is  recorded  in 
the  Calendar  of  State  Papers  that  one  Captain 
Richardson  agreed  for  his  place  as  keeper  of 
Newgate  for  £3,000.  A  larger  sum,  viz.,  £5,000, 
was  paid  by  John  Huggins  to  Lord  Clarendon,  who 
"  did  by  his  interest  "  obtain  a  grant  of  the  office 
of  keeper  of  the  Fleet  Prison  for  the  life  of  Huggins 
and  his  son.  One  James  Whiston,  in  a  book  entitled 
"  England's  Calamities  Discovered,  or  Serious  Ad- 
vice to  the  Common  Council  of  London,"  denounces 
this  practice,  which  he  stigmatizes  as  "  bartering 
justice  for  gold."  "  Purchased  cruelty,"  the  right 
to  oppress  the  prisoners,  that  is  to  say,  in  order  to 
recover  the  sums  spent  in  buying  the  place,  "  is  now 
grown  so  bold  that  if  a  poor  man  pay  not  extor- 


34  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

tionary  fees  and  ruinous  chamber-rent,  he  shall  be 
thrown  into  holes  and  common  sides  to  be  de- 
voured by  famine,  lice,  and  disease.  I  would  fain 
know,"  he  asks,  "  by  what  surmise  of  common 
sense  a  keeper  of  a  prison  can  demand  a  recompense 
or  fee  from  a  prisoner  for  keeping  him  in  prison? 
.  .  .  Can  he  believe  that  any  person  can  de- 
serve a  recompense  for  opening  the  door  of  misery 
and  destruction?  .  .  .  But  now  such  is  the  con- 
fidence of  a  purchaser,  that  to  regain  his  sum  ex- 
pended he  sells  his  tap-house  at  prodigious  rates, 
...  he  farms  his  sheets  to  mere  harpies,  and 
his  great  key  to  such  a  piece  of  imperious  cruelty 
(presumably  his  chief  turnkey)  as  is  the  worst  of 
mankind."  Following  the  same  line  of  argument, 
he  says :  "  It  will  perhaps  be  thought  impertinent  to 
dispute  a  gaoler's  demands  for  admitting  us  into 
his  loathsome  den,  when  even  the  common  hang- 
man, no  doubt  encouraged  by  such  examples,  will 
scarce  give  a  malefactor  a  cast  of  his  office  with- 
out a  bribe,  demands  very  formally  his  fees,  for- 
sooth, of  the  person  tO'  be  executed,  and  higgles 
with  him  as  nicely  as  if  he  were  going  to  do  him 
some  mighty  kindness."  Eventually  an  act  was 
passed  specifically  forbidding  the  sale  of  such  places. 
This  statute  affirms  that  "  none  shall  buy,  sell,  let, 
or  take  to  farm,  the  office  of  undersheriff,  gaoler, 
bailifiF,  under  pain  of  £500,  half  to  the  king  and 
half  to  him  that  shall  sue." 

Let  us  return  to  mediaeval  Newgate.     Whatever 


MEDIiEVAL   NEWGATE 


35 


the  authority,  whether  royal  or  civic,  the  condition 
of  the  inmates  must  have  been  wretched  in  the 
extreme,  as  the  few  brief  references  to  them  in  the 
various  records  will  sufficiently  prove.  The  place 
was  full  of  horrors ;  the  gaolers  rapacious  and  cruel. 
In  1334  an  official  inquiry  was  made  into  the  state 
of  the  gaol,  and  some  of  the  atrocities  practised 
were  brought  to  light.  It  was  found  that  prisoners 
detained  on  minor  charges  were  cast  into  deep 
dungeons,  and  there  associated  with  the  worst 
criminals.  All  were  alike  threatened,  nay  tortured, 
till  they  yielded  to  the  keepers'  extortions,  or  con- 
sented to  turn  approvers  and  swear  away  the  lives 
of  innocent  men.  These  poor  prisoners  were  de- 
pendent upon  the  charity  and  good-will  of  the 
benevolent  for  food  and  raiment.  As  far  back  as 
1237  it  is  stated  that  Sir  John  Pulteney  gave  four 
marks  by  the  year  to  the  relief  of  prisoners  in 
Newgate.  In  the  year  1385  William  Walworth, 
the  stalwart  mayor  whose  name  is  well  remembered 
in  connection  with  Wat  Tyler's  rebellion,  gave 
"  somewhat "  with  the  same  good  object.  "  So 
have  many  others  since,"  says  the  record.  The 
water-supply  of  the  prison,  Stowe  tells,  was  also 
a  charitable  gift.  "  Thomas  Knowles,  grocer, 
sometime  mayor  of  London,  by  license  of  Reynold, 
prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's  in  Smithfield,  and  also 
of  John  Wakering,  master  of  the  hospital  of  St. 
Bartholomew,  and  his  brethren,  conveyed  the  waste 
of  water  at  the  cistern   near  unto  the  common 


36  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

fountain  and  Chapel  of  St.  Nicholas  (situate  by 
the  said  hospital)  to  the  gaols  of  Ludgate  and 
Newgate,  for  the  relief  of  the  prisoners." 

In  145 1,  by  the  will  of  Phillip  Malpas,  who  had 
been  a  sheriff  some  twelve  years  previous,  the  sum  of 
£125  was  bequeathed  to  "  the  relief  of  poor 
prisoners."  This  Malpas,  it  may  be  mentioned 
here,  was  a  courageous  official,  ready  to  act 
promptly  in  defence  of  city  rights.  In  1439  a 
prisoner  under  escort  from  Newgate  to  Guildhall 
was  rescued  from  the  officers'  hands  by  five  com- 
panions, after  which  all  took  sanctuary  at  the  col- 
lege of  St.  Martin's-le-Grand.  *' But  Phillip 
Malpas  and  Robert  Marshal,  the  sheriffs  of  Lon- 
don, were  no  sooner  acquainted  with  the  violence 
offered  to  their  officer  and  the  rescue  of  their 
prisoner,  than  they,  at  the  head  of  a  great  number 
of  citizens,  repaired  to  the  said  college,  and  forcibly 
took  from  thence  the  criminal  and  his  rescuers, 
whom  they  carried  in  fetters  to  the  Compter,  and 
thence,  chained  by  the  necks,  to  Newgate." 

For  food  the  prisoners  were  dependent  upon  alms 
or  upon  articles  declared  forfeit  by  the  law.  All 
food  sold  contrary  to  the  statutes  of  the  various 
guilds  was  similarly  forfeited  to  the  prisoners.  The 
practice  of  giving  food  was  continued  throu^^h 
succeeding  years,  and  to  a  very  recent  date.  A 
long  list  of  charitable  donations  and  bequests  might 
be  made  out,  bestowed  either  in  money  or  in  kind. 
A  customary  present  was  a  number  of  stones  of 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE 


37 


beef.  Some  gave  penny  loaves,  some  oatmeal,  some 
coals.  Without  this  benevolence  it  would  have  gone 
hard  with  the  poor  population  of  the  Gate-house 
gaol.  It  was  not  strange  that  the  prison  should 
be  wasted  by  epidemics,  as  when  in  141 4  "  the 
gaoler  died  and  prisoners  to  the  number  of  sixty- 
four  ;  "  or  that  the  inmates  should  at  times  exhibit 
a  desperate  turbulence,  taking  up  arms  and  giving 
constituted  authority  much  trouble  to  subdue  them, 
as  in  1457  when  they  broke  out  of  their  several 
wards  in  Newgate,  and  got  upon  the  leads,  where 
they  defended  themselves  with  great  obstinacy 
against  the  sheriffs  and  their  officers,  insomuch  that 
they,  the  sheriffs,  were  obliged  to  call  the  citizens  to 
their  assistance,  whereby  the  prisoners  were  soon 
reduced  to  their  former  state. 

One  other  charitable  bequest  must  be  referred 
to  here,  as  proving  that  the  moral  no  less  than  the 
physical  well-being  of  the  prisoners  was  occasion- 
ally an  object  of  solicitude.  In  the  reign  of  Richard 
II  a  prayer-book  was  specially  bequeathed  to  New- 
gate in  the  following  terms  : 

"Be  it  remembered  that  on  the  loth  day  of 
June,  in  the  5th  year  (1382),  Henry  Bever,  parson 
of  the  church  of  St.  Peter  in  Brad  Street  (St. 
Peter  the  Poor,  Broad  Street),  executor  of  Hugh 
Tracy,  chaplain,  came  here  before  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  and  produced  a  certain  book  called  a 
*  Porte  hors,*  which  the  same  Hugh  had  left  to 
the   gaol   of   Newgate,   in   order  that  priests   and 


2,S  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

clerks  there  imprisoned  might  say  their  serv^ice 
from  the  same,  there  to  remain  so  long  as  it  might 
last.  And  so  in  form  aforesaid  the  book  was  de- 
livered unto  David  Bertelike,  keeper  of  the  gate 
aforesaid,  to  keep  it  in  such  manner  so  long  as  he 
should  hold  that  office;  who  was  also  then  charged 
to  be  answerable  for  it.  And  it  was  to  be  fully 
allowable  for  the  said  Henry  to  enter  the  gaol  afore- 
said twice  in  the  year  at  such  times  as  he  should 
please,  these  times  being  suitable  times,  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  how  the  book  was  kept." 

We  are  without  any  very  precise  information 
as  to  the  state  of  the  prison  building  throughout 
these  dark  ages.  But  it  was  before  ever}^thing 
a  gate-house,  part  and  parcel  of  the  city  fortifica- 
tions, and  therefore  more  care  and  attention  would 
be  paid  to  its  external  than  its  internal  condition. 
It  was  subject,  moreover,  to  the  violence  of  such 
disturbers  of  the  peace  as  the  followers  of  Wat 
Tyler,  of  whom  it  is  written  that,  having  spoiled 
strangers  "  in  most  outrageous  manner,  entered 
churches,  abbeys,  and  houses  of  men  of  law,  which 
in  semblable  sort  they  ransacked,  they  also  brake 
up  the  prisons  of  Newgate  and  of  both  the  Compt- 
ers, destroyed  the  books,  and  set  the  prisoners  at 
liberty."  This  was  in  1381.  Whether  the  gaol  was 
immediately  repaired  after  the  rebellion  was  crushed 
does  not  appear;  but  if  so,  the  work  was  only 
partially  performed,  and  the  process  of  dilapida- 
tion and  decay  must  soon  have  recommenced,  for 


MEDIAEVAL   NEWGATE  39 

in  Whittington's  time  it  was  almost  in  ruins.  That 
eminent  citizen  and  mercer,  who  was  three  times 
mayor,  and  whose  charitable  bequests  were 
numerous  and  liberal,  left  moneys  in  his  will  for 
the  purpose  of  rebuilding  the  place,  and  accordingly 
license  was  granted  in  1422,  the  first  year  of  Henry 
VI's  reign,  to  his  executors,  John  Coventre,  Jenken 
Carpenter,  and  William  Grove,  "  to  reedify  the 
gaol  of  Newgate,  which  they  did  with  his  goods." 
This  building,  such  as  it  was,  continued  to  serve 
until  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. 

T  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  any  exact  figure 
of  this  old  Newgate,  either  in  its  ancient  or  im- 
proved aspect.  The  structure,  such  as  it  was,  suf- 
fered so  severely  in  the  great  fire  of  1666  that  it 
became  necessary  to  rebuild  it  upon  new  and  more 
imposing  lines.  This  may  be  described  as  the  third 
edifice:  that  of  the  twelfth  century  being  the  first, 
and  Richard  Whittington's  the  second.  Of  this 
third  prison  details  are  still  extant,  of  which 
description  will  be  given  hereafter. 


CHAPTER  II 

NEWGATE    IN     THE     SIXTEENTH     CENTURY 

Prison  records  meagre  — Administration  of  justice  and  state 
of  crime  —  Leniency  alternates  with  great  severity  — 
Criminal  inmates  of  Newgate  —  Masterless  men  —  Rob- 
bery with  violence  —  Debtors  —  Conscience  prisoners  — 
Martyrs  in  reign  of  Henry  VIII  —  Religious  dissidents: 
Porter,  Anne  Askew  —  Maryan  persecutions  —  Rogers  — 
Bishop  Hooper  —  Alexander,  the  cruel  gaoler  of  Newgate 

—  Philpot  —  Underbill  the  Hot  Gospeller  in  Newgate  — 
Crime  in  Elizabeth's  reign  —  The  training  of  young 
thieves  —  Elizabethan  persecutions:  both  Puritans  and 
papists  suffered  —  The  seminary  priests — Political  pris- 
oners—  Babington's  conspiracy  —  Conspiracies  against  the 
life  of  Elizabeth  —  Gaolers  of  the  period  generally  tyrants 

—  Crowder,  keeper  of  Newgate,  called  to  account. 

The  prison  records  of  the  sixteenth  century  are 
very  meagre.  No  elaborate  system  of  incarcera- 
tion as  we  understand  it  existed.  The  only  idea 
of  punishment  was  the  infliction  of  physical  pain. 
The  penalties  inflicted  were  purely  personal,  and 
so  to  speak  final ;  such  as  chastisement,  degradation, 
or  death.  England  had  no  galleys,  no  scheme  of 
enforced  labour  at  the  oar,  such  as  was  known  to 
the  nations  of  the  Mediterranean  seaboard,  no 
method  of  compelling  perpetual  toil  in  quarry  or 
mine.     The  germ  of  transportation  no  doubt  was 

40 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  41 

to  be  found  in  the  practice  which  suffered  offenders 
who  had  taken  sanctuary  to  escape  punishment  by 
voluntary  exile/  but  it  was  long  before  the  plan 
of  deporting  criminals  beyond  seas  became  the  rule. 
"  In  Henry  VIII's  time,"  says  Froude,  "  there  was 
but  one  step  to  the  gallows  from  the  lash  and  the 
branding-iron."  Criminals  did  not  always  get  their 
deserts,  however.  Although  historians  have  gravely 
asserted  that  seventy-two  thousand  executions  took 
place  in  this  single  reign,  the  statement  will  not 
bear  examination,  and  has  been  utterly  demolished 
by  Froude.  As  a  matter  of  fact  offenders  far  too 
often  escaped  scot-free  through  the  multiplication 
of  sanctuaries  —  which  refuges,  like  that  of  St. 
Martin's-le-Grand,  existed  under  the  very  walls  of 
Newgate  —  the  negligence  of  pursuers,  and  not  sel- 
dom the  stout  opposition  of  the  inculpated.  Benefit 
of  clergy  claimed  and  conceded  on  the  most  shadowy 
grounds  was  another  easy  and  frequent  means  of 
evading  the  law.  Some  judges  certainly  had  held 
that  the  tonsure  was  an  indispensable  proof;  but 
all  were  not  so  strict,  and  "  putting  on  the  book," 
in  other  words,  the  simple  act  of  reading  aloud, 

^This  abjuring  the  king's  land  was  an  act  of  self-banish- 
ment, akin  in  its  effects  to  the  old  Roman  penalty  of  aqiicB 
et  ignis  interdictio.  Any  criminal  who  took  sanctuary  might 
escape  the  law,  provided  that  within  forty  days  he  clothed 
himself  in  sackcloth,  confessed  his  crime  before  the  coroner, 
and  after  solemnly  abjuring  the  land,  proceeded,  cross  in 
hand,  to  some  appointed  port,  where  he  embarked  and  left 
the  country.  If  apprehended  within  forty  days  he  was  again 
suffered  to  depart.  —  Note  in  Thom's  "Stow,"  p.  157. 


42 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


was  deemed  sufficient.  So  flagrant  was  the  evasion 
of  the  law,  that  gaolers  for  a  certain  fee  would 
assist  accused  persons  to  obtain  a  smattering  of 
letters,  whereby  they  might  plead  their  "  clergy  *' 
in  court.  It  may  be  added  that  although  the  abuse 
of  the  privilege  was  presently  greatly  checked,  it 
was  not  until  the  reign  of  William  and  Mary 
that  benefit  of  clergy  was  absolutely  denied  to 
burglars,  pickpockets,  and  other  criminal  offenders. 
Yet  there  were  spasmodic  intervals  of  the  most 
extraordinary  severity.  Twenty  thieves,  says  Sir 
Thomas  More  in  his  "  Utopia,"  might  then  be  seen 
hanging  on  a  single  gibbet.  Special  legislation  was 
introduced  to  deal  with  special  crimes.  Although 
there  was  an  appropriateness  in  the  retribution 
which  overtook  him,  the  sentence  inflicted  upon  the 
Bishop  of  Rochester's  cook  in  1531,  under  a  new 
act  passed  for  the  purpose,  was  ferociously  cruel. 
This  man,  one  Richard  Rose  or  Rouse,  was  con- 
victed of  having  poisoned  sixteen  persons  with 
porridge  specially  prepared  to  put  an  end  to  his 
master.  The  crime  had  been  previously  almost 
unknown  in  England,  and  special  statutory  powers 
were  taken  to  cope  with  it.  An  act  was  at  once 
passed  defining  the  offence  to  be  high  treason,  and 
prescribing  boiling  to  death  as  the  penalty.  Rose 
was  accordingly,  after  conviction,  boiled  alive  in 
Smithfield.  It  may  be  added  that  this  cruel  statute, 
which  may  be  read  in  extenso  in  Froude,  was  soon 
afterwards  repealed,  but  not  before  another  culprit, 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  43 

Margaret  Davy  by  name,  had  suffered  under  its  pro- 
visions for  a  similar  offence. 

It  is  only  a  passing  glimpse  that  we  get  of  the 
meaner  sort  of  criminal  committed  to  Newgate 
in  these  times.  The  gaol,  as  I  have  said,  was  but 
the  antechamber  to  something  worse.  It  was  the 
starting-point  for  the  painful  promenade  to  the 
pillory.  The  jurors  who  were  forsworn  "  for  re- 
wards or  favour  of  parties  were  judged  to  ride 
from  Newgate  to  the  pillory  in  Cornhill  with  paper 
mitres  on  their  heads,  there  to  stand,  and  from 
thence  again  to  Newgate."  Again,  the  ring- 
leaders of  false  inquests.  Darby,  Smith,  and  Sim- 
son  by  name,  were,  in  the  first  year  of  Henry 
VIFs  reign  (1509),  condemned  to  ride  about  the 
city  with  their  faces  to  their  horses'  tails,  and  paper 
on  their  heads,  and  were  set  on  the  pillory  at  Corn- 
hill.  After  that  they  were  brought  back  to  New- 
gate, where  they  died  for  very  shame. 

A  few  extracts  will  serve  further  to  describe  the 
criminal  inmates  of  Newgate  in  those  times.  The 
quotations  are  from  the  "  Remembrancia,"  1579- 
1664.  Searches  appear  to  have  been  regularly  made 
for  suspected  persons,  who  when  caught  were  com- 
mitted to  ward.  Thus,  15 19,  a  search  was  made 
in  the  house  of  William  Solcocke  in  Holborne,  and 
it  was  found  that  one  Christopher  Tyllesley  had 
lain  there  two  nights.  "  He  has  no  master,  and  is 
committed  to  Newgate."  Again,  "  in  the  house  of 
Christopher  Arundell  one  Robert  Bayley:    has  no 


44  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

master,  and  is  committed  to  Newgate."  To  New- 
gate were  also  committed  any  who  were  bold  enough 
to  mahgn  the  great  Cardinal  Wolsey,  in  the 
plenitude  of  his  power,  as  was  Adam  Greene  in  June, 
1523,  a  prisoner  in  Ludgate,  who  repeated  to  the 
keeper  what  he  had  heard  from  a  "  bocher " 
(butcher),  to  the  effect  that  Wolsey  had  told  the 
king  that  all  London  were  traitors  to  his  Grace. 
Greene  was  warned  to  keep  silent,  but  he  said  "  he 
would  abide  by  it,  for  he  had  it  from  a  substantial 
man  who  would  also  abide  by  it." 

Instances  of  more  serious  crimes  are  recorded. 
In  March,  1528,  Stephen  reports  to  Thomas  Crom- 
well that  between  the  hours  of  six  and  seven, 
"  five  thieves  knocked  at  the  door  of  Roderigo  the 
Spaniard,  which  dwelleth  next  the  goldsmith 
against  your  door.^  Being  asked  who  was  there, 
they  answered,  '  one  from  the  court,  to  speak  with 
Roderigo.'  When  the  door  was  opened  three  of 
them  rushed  in  and  found  the  said  Roderigo  sit- 
ting by  the  fire  with  a  poor  woman  dwelling  next 
to  Mrs.  W3'nsor.  Two  tarried  and  kept  the  door, 
and  strangled  the  poor  woman  that  she  should  not 
cry.  They  then  took  Roderigo's  purse,  and  killed 
him  by  stabbing  him  in  the  belly,  but  had  not  fled 
far  before  two  of  them  were  taken  and  brought  to 
Newgate." 

Debtors  were  too  small  fry  to  be  often  referred 

*  Cromwell's  house  was  in  the  city  in  Throgmorton  Street, 
close  to  the  site  of  the  monastic  house  of  the  Austin  Friars. 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 


45 


to  in  the  chronicles  of  the  times.  Now  and  again 
they  are  mentioned  as  fitting  objects  for  charity, 
royal  and  private.  In  the  king's  book  of  payments 
is  the  following  entry,  under  date  May,  1515: 
"  Master  Almoner  redeeming  prisoners  in  New- 
gate, Ludgate,  and  the  Compter,  £20."  The  State 
Papers,  1581,  contain  a  commission  to  the  lord 
mayor,  recorder,  and  sheriffs  of  London,  and  many 
others,  all  charitable  folk,  and  some  sixty  in  num- 
bers, tO'  compound  with  the  creditors  of  poor 
debtors,  at  that  time  prisoners  in  Newgate,  Ludgate, 
and  the  two  Compters  of  the  city.  Although 
debtors  in  gaol  who  volunteered  for  service  on  ship- 
board were  discharged  by  proclamation  from  the 
demands  of  their  creditors,  as  a  general  rule  com- 
mittal to  Newgate  on  account  of  monetary  mis- 
management appears  to  have  been  more  easily  com- 
passed than  subsequent  release.  The  same  volume 
of  State  Papers  contains  a  petition  from  Richard 
Case  to  Lord  Burghley,  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
been  committed  to  Newgate  "  upon  the  unjust  com- 
plaint of  Mr.  Benedict  Spinola,  relative  to  the  lease 
of  certain  lands  and  tenements  in  London."  The 
petitioner  further  "  desires  to  be  discharged  from 
prison,  and  to  have  the  queen's  pardon,"  but  there 
is  no  allusion  to  his  enlargement.^     The  impolicy  of 

*This  Benedict  Spinola  must  have  been  an  Italian  with 
some  influence.  His  personal  relations  with  Burghley  are 
manifest  from  a  letter  of  congratulation  sent  by  him  to 
Burghley    on    the    safe    arrival    of    the    Earl    of    Oxford    at 


46  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

confining  debtors  was  not  to  be  fully  realized  till 
three  more  centuries  had  passed  away.  But  as 
early  as  1700  a  pamphlet  preserved  in  the  '*  Harleian 
Miscellany,"  and  entitled  "  Labour  in  Vain,"  antici- 
pates modern  feeling  and  modern  legislation.  The 
writer  protests  against  the  imprisonment  of  debtors, 
which  he  compares  to  shutting  up  a  cow  from 
herbage  when  she  gives  no  milk.  "  In  England  we 
confine  people  to  starve,  contrary  to  humanity, 
mercy,  or  policy.  One  may  as  reasonably  expect  his 
dog,"  he  says,  "  when  chained  to  a  post  should  catch 
a  hare,  as  that  poor  debtors  when  in  gaol  should  get 
wherewithal  to  pay  their  debts." 

Details  of  the  incarceration  and  sufferings  of 
prisoners  for  conscience's  sake,  in  an  age  when 
polemics  were  backed  up  by  the  strong  arm  of  the 
law,  are  naturally  to  be  met  with  more  frequently 
in  the  partisan  writings  of  the  time.  Throughout 
the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII,  Mary,  and  even  in  that 
of  Elizabeth,  intolerance  stalked  rampant  through 
the  land,  filling  the  prisons  and  keeping  Smith- 
field  in  a  blaze.  Henry  was  by  turns  severe  on 
all  creeds.  Now  Protestants,  now  Catholics  suf- 
fered. He  began  as  an  ardent  champion  of  Romish 
doctrines,  and  ended  by  denying  the  supremacy  of 
the  Pope.  In  the  first  stage  he  persecuted  so-called 
heretics,  in  the  second  he  despoiled  Church  property, 

Milan.  Other  more  or  less  confidential  matters  are  men- 
tioned in  connection  with  Pasqual  and  Jacob  Spinola,  Bene- 
dict's brothers. 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 


47 


and  sent  monks  and  priors  to  gaol  and  to  the  gal- 
lows. Foxe  gives  a  long  and  detailed  list  of  the 
Protestant  martyrs  from  first  to  last. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  was  Richard  Bay- 
field, a  monk  of  Bury,  who  became  an  inmate  of 
Newgate.  Foxe  relates  that  a  letter  of  inquiry  was 
issued  by  the  Bishop  of  London  to  the  lord  mayor 
and  sheriffs  to  be  present  at  St.  Paul's  on  the  20th 
November,  1531,  to  receive  the  said  Richard  Bay- 
field, alias  Soundesam,  "  a  relapsed  heretic  after 
sentence."  The  sheriffs  carried  him  to  Newgate, 
whence  they  were  commanded  again  to  bring  him 
into  Paul's  upper  choir,  there  to  give  attendance 
upon  the  bishop.  Later  on  they  are  ordered  to 
have  him  into  the  vestry,  and  then  to  bring  him 
forth  again  in  Antichrist's  apparel  to  be  degraded 
before  them.  "  When  the  bishop  had  degraded 
him,"  says  old  Foxe,  "  kneeling  upon  the  highest 
step  of  the  altar,  he  took  his  crosier  staff  and  smote 
him  on  the  breast,  then  he  threw  him  down  back- 
wards and  brake  his  head,  so  that  he  swooned ;  and 
when  he  came  to  himself  again  he  was  led  forth 
through  the  choir  to  Newgate,  and  there  rested 
about  an  hour  in  prayer,  and  so  went  to  the  fire  in 
his  apparel  manfully  and  joyfully,  and  there  for 
lack  of  a  speedy  fire  was  two  quarters  of  an  hour 
alive." 

Henry,  was,  however,  impartial  in  his  severity. 
In  1533  he  suffered  John  Frith,  Andrew  Hewett, 
and  other  Protestants,  to  the  number  of  twenty- 


48  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

seven,  to  be  burned  for  heresy.  The  years  im- 
mediately following  he  hunted  to  death  all  who 
refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  the  head  of  the 
Church.  Besides  such  imposing  victims  as  Sir 
Thomas  More,  and  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester, 
many  priests  suffered.  In  1534  the  prior  of  the 
London  Carthusians,  the  prior  of  Hexham,  Benase, 
a  monk  of  Sion  College,  and  John  Haite,  vicar  of 
Islew'Orth,  together  wnth  others,  were  sentenced  to 
be  hanged  and  quartered  at  Tyburn.  In  1538  a 
friar,  by  name  Forrest,  was  hanged  in  Smithfield 
upon  a  gallows,  quick,  by  the  middle  and  the  arm- 
holes,  and  burned  to  death  for  denying  the  king's 
supremacy  and  teaching  the  same  in  confession  to 
many  of  the  king's  subjects.  Upon  the  pile  by 
which  Forrest  was  consumed  was  also  a  wooden 
image,  brought  out  of  Wales,  called  "  Darvell 
Gatheren,"  which  the  Welshmen  "  much  wor- 
shipped, and  had  a  prophecy  amongst  them  that 
this  image  would  set  a  whole  forest  on  fire,  which 
prophecy  took  effect." 

The  greatest  trials  were  reserved  for  the  re- 
ligious dissidents  who  dared  to  differ  with  the  king. 
Henry  was  vain  of  his  learning  and  of  his  polemical 
powers.  No  true  follower  of  Luther,  he  was  a 
Protestant  by  policy  rather  than  conviction,  and 
he  still  held  many  tenets  of  the  Qiurch  he  had 
disavow^ed.  These  were  embodied  and  promul- 
gated in  the  notorious  Six  Articles,  otherwise  "  the 
whip  with  six  tails,"  or  the  Bloody  Statute,  so  called 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 


49 


irom  its  sanguinary  results.  The  doctrines  enun- 
ciated were  such  that  many  could  not  possibly  sub- 
scribe to  them;  the  penalties  were  "strait  and 
bloody,"  and  very  soon  they  were  widely  inflicted. 
Foxe,  in  a  dozen  or  more  pages,  recounts  the  various 
presentments  against  individuals,  lay  and  clerical, 
for  transgressing  one  or  more  of  the  principles  of 
the  Six  Articles ;  and  adds  to  the  aforesaid,  "  Dr. 
Taylor,  parson  of  St.  Peter's,  in  Cornhill;  South, 
parish  priest  of  Allhallows,  in  Lombard  Street; 
Some,  a  priest;  Giles,  the  king's  beer-brewer,  at  the 
Red  Lion,  in  St.  Katherine's;  Thomas  Lancaster, 
priest;  all  which  were  imprisoned  likewise  for  the 
Six  Articles."  *'  To  be  short,"  he  adds,  "  such  a 
number  out  of  all  parishes  in  London,  and  out  of 
Calais,  and  divers  other  quarters,  were  then  ap- 
prehended through  the  said  inquisition,  that  all 
prisons  in  London,  including  Newgate,  were  too 
little  to  hold  them,  insomuch  that  they  were  fain  to 
lay  them  in  the  halls.  At  last,  by  the  means  of  good 
Lord  Audeley,  such  pardon  was  obtained  of  the  king 
that  the  said  Lord  Audeley,  then  Lord  Chancellor, 
being  content  that  one  should  be  bound  for  another, 
they  were  all  discharged,  being  bound  only  to  appear 
in  the  Star  Chamber  the  next  day  after  All  Souls, 
there  to  answer  if  they  were  called ;  but  neither  was 
there  any  person  called,  neither  did  any  appear." 

Bonner,  then  Bishop  of  London,  and  afterwards 
one  of  the  queen's  principal  advisers,  had  power 
to  persecute  even  under  Henry.     The   Bible  had 


50  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

been  set  up  by  the  king's  command  in  St.  Paul's, 
that  the  pubHc  might  read  the  sacred  word. 
"  Much  people  used  to  resort  thither,"  says  Foxe,  to 
hear  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  and  especially  by 
one  John  Porter,  "  a  fresh  young  man,  and  of  a 
big  stature,"  who  was  very  expert.  It  displeased 
Bonner  that  this  Porter  should  draw  such  congrega- 
tions, and  sending  for  him,  the  Bishop  relniked 
him  very  sharply  for  his  reading.  Porter  defended 
himself,  but  Bonner  charged  him  with  adding 
expositions  of  the  text,  and  gathering  '*  great  multi- 
tudes about  him  to  make  tumults."  Nothing-  was 
proved  against  Porter,  but  "  in  fine  Bonner  sent 
him  to  Newgate,  where  he  was  miserably  fettered  in 
irons,  both  legs  and  arms,  with  a  collar  of  iron 
about  his  neck,  fastened  to  the  wall  in  the  dungeon ; 
being  there  so  cruelly  handled  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  send  for  a  kinsman  of  his,  whose  name  is 
also  Porter,  a  man  yet  alive,  and  can  testify  that 
it  is  true,  and  dwelleth  yet  without  Newgate.  He, 
seeing  his  kinsman  in  this  miserable  case,  entreated 
Jewet.  the  keeper  of  Newgate,  that  he  might  be  re- 
leased out  of  those  cruel  irons,  and  so,  through 
friendship  and  money,  had  him  up  among  other 
prisoners,  who  lay  there  for  felony  and  murder." 
Porter  made  the  most  of  the  occasion,  and  after 
hearing  and  seeing  their  wickedness  and  blasphemy, 
exhorted  them  to  amendment  of  life,  and  "gave 
unto  them  such  instructions  as  he  had  learned  of  in 
the  Scriptures ;   for  which  his  so  doing  he  was  com- 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  51 

plained,  and  so  carried  down  and  laid  in  the  lower 
dungeon  of  all,  oppressed  with  bolts  and  irons, 
where,  within  six  or  eight  days,  he  was  found  dead." 
But  the  most  prominent  victim  to  the  Six 
Articles  was  Anne  Askew,  the  daughter  of  Sir 
William  Askew,  knight,  of  Lincolnshire.  She  was 
married  to  one  Kyme,  but  is  best  known  under  her 
maiden  name.  She  was  persecuted  for  denying  the 
Real  Presence,  but  the  proceedings  against  her  were 
pushed  to  extremity,  it  was  said,  because  she  was 
befriended  in  high  quarters.  Her  story  is  a 
melancholly  one.  First,  one  Christopher  Dene 
examined  her  as  to  her  faith  and  belief  in  a  very 
subtle  manner,  and  upon  her  answers  had  her  be- 
fore the  lord  mayor,  who  committed  her  to  the 
Compter.  There,  for  eleven  days,  none  but  a  priest 
was  allowed  to  visit  her,  his  object  being  tO'  ensnare 
her  further.  Presently  she  was  released  upon  find- 
ing sureties  to  surrender  if  required,  but  was  again 
brought  before  the  king's  council  at  Greenwich. 
Her  opinions  in  matters  of  belief  proving  unsatis- 
factory, she  was  remanded  to  Newgate.  Thence 
she  petitioned  the  king,  also  the  Lord  Chancellor 
Wriottesley,  "  to  aid  her  in  obtaining  just  con- 
sideration." Nevertheless,  she  was  taken  to  the 
Tower,  and  there  tortured.  Foxe  puts  the  following 
words  into  her  mouth :  "  On  Tuesday  I  was  sent 
from  Newgate  to  the  Sign  of  the  Crown,  where 
Master  Rich  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  with  all 
their  power  and   flattering  words,   went  about  to 


52 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


persuade  me  from  God,  but  I  did  not  esteem  their 
glosing  pretences.  .  .  .  Then  Master  Rich  sent 
me  to  the  Tower,  where  I  remained  till  three 
o'clock."  At  the  Tower  strenuous  efforts  were 
made  to  get  her  to  accuse  others.  They  pressed  her 
to  say  how  she  was  maintained  in  prison;  whether 
divers  gentlewomen  had  not  sent  her  money.  But 
she  replied  that  her  maid  had  gone  abroad  in  the 
streets  and  made  moan  to  the  'prentices,  who  had 
sent  her  alms.  When  further  urged,  she  admitted 
that  a  man  in  a  blue  coat  had  delivered  her  ten 
shillings,  saying  it  came  from  my  Lady  Hertford, 
and  that  another  in  a  violet  coat  had  given  her  eight 
shillings  from  my  Lady  Denny  —  "  whether  it  is 
true  or  not  I  cannot  tell."  "  Then  they  said  three 
men  of  the  council  did  maintain  me,  and  I  said  no. 
Then  they  did  put  me  on  the  rack  because  I  con- 
fessed no  ladies  or  gentlemen  to  be  of  my  opinion, 
and  thereon  they  kept  me  a  long  time;  and  because 
I  lay  still,  and  did  not  cry,  my  Lord  Chancellor  and 
Master  Rich  took  pains  to  rack  me  with  their  own 
hands  till  I  was  nigh  dead.  Then  the  lieutenant 
(Sir  Anthony  Knevet)  caused  me  to  be  loosed 
from  the  rack.  Incontinently  T  swooned,  and  then 
they  recovered  me  again.  After  that  I  sat  two 
long  hours,  reasoning  with  my  Lord  Chancellor, 
on  the  bare  floor."  At  last  she  was  "  brought  to  a 
house  and  laid  in  a  bed  with  as  weary  and  painful 
bones  as  ever  had  patient  Job;  I  thank  my  Lord 
God  therefor.     Then  my  Lord  Chancellor  sent  me 


THE   SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  53 

word,  if  I  would  leave  my  opinion,  I  should  want 
nothing;  if  I  did  not,  I  should  forthwith  to  New- 
gate, and  so  be  burned.    .    .    ." 

Foxe  gives  full  details  of  her  torture  in  the 
Tower.  At  first  she  was  let  down  into  a  dungeon, 
and  the  gaoler,  by  command  of  Sir  Anthony 
Knevet,  pinched  her  with  the  rack.  After  this, 
deeming  he  had  done  enough,  he  was  about  to 
take  her  down,  but  Wriottesley,  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, "  commanded  the  lieutenant  to  strain  her  on 
the  rack  again;  which,  because  he  denied  to  do, 
tendering  the  weakness  of  the  woman,  he  was 
threatened  therefore  grievously  of  the  said  Wri- 
ottesley, saying  he  would  signify  his  disobedience 
to  the  king.  And  so  consequently  upon  the  same, 
he  (Wriottesley)  and  Master  Rich,  throwing  off 
their  gowns,  would  needs  play  the  tormentors 
themselves.  .  .  .  And  so,  quietly  and  patiently 
praying  unto  the  Lord,  she  abode  their  tyranny  till 
her  bones  and  joints  were  almost  plucked  asunder, 
in  such  sort  as  she  was  carried  away  in  a  chair." 
Then  the  chancellor  galloped  off  to  report  the  lieu- 
tenant to  the  king;  but  Sir  Anthony  Knevet  fore- 
stalled by  going  by  water,  and  obtained  the  king's 
pardon  before  the  complaint  was  made.  "  King 
Henry,"  says  Foxe,  "  seemed  not  very  well  to  like 
of  their  so  extreme  handling  of  the  woman." 

Soon  after  this  Mistress  Askew  was  again  com- 
mitted to  Newgate,  whence  she  was  carried  in  a 
chair  to  Smithfield,  "  because  she  could  not  walk 


54 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


on  her  feet  by  means  of  her  great  torments.  When 
called  upon  to  recant  she  refused,  as  did  the  mar- 
tyrs with  her."  Whereupon  the  lord  mayor,  com- 
manding fire  to  be  put  under  them,  cried,  "  Fiat 
Justitia,"  and  they  were  burned. 

The  Maryan  persecutions  naturally  filled  New- 
gate. It  would  weary  the  reader  to  give  length- 
ened descriptions  of  the  many  martyrs  who  passed 
through  that  prison  to  Smithfield.  But  a  few  of 
the  victims  stand  prominently  forward.  Two  of 
the  earliest  were  John  Rogers,  vicar  of  St. 
Sepulchre  and  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's,  and 
Hooper,  Bishop  of  Gloucester.  Rogers  was  the 
protomartyr  —  the  first  sacrificed  to  the  religious 
intolerance  of  Mary  and  her  advisers.  Foxe  says 
that  after  being  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house  for  a 
long  time,  Rogers  was  "  removed  to  the  prison 
called  Newgate,  where  he  was  lodged  among  thieves 
and  murderers  for  a  great  space."  He  was  kept 
in  Newgate  "  a  full  year,"  Rogers  tells  us  himself, 
"  at  great  costs  and  charges,  having  a  wife  and  ten 
children  to  find  for;  and  I  had  never  a  penny  of  my 
livings,  which  was  against  the  law."  He  made 
"  many  supplications  "  out  of  Newgate,  and  sent 
his  wife  to  implore  fairer  treatment;  but  in  New- 
gate he  lay.  till  at  length  he  was  brought  to  the 
Compter  in  Southwark.  with  Master  Hooper,  for 
examination.  Finally,  after  having  been  "  very 
uncharitably  entreated,"  he  was  "  unjustly,  and  most 
cruelly,  by  wicked  Winchester  condemned."     The 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  55 

4th  February,  1555,  he  was  warned  suddenly  by  the 
keeper's  wife  of  Newgate  to  prepare  himself  for 
the  fire,  "  who  being  then  found  asleep,  scarce  with 
much  shogging  could  be  awakened."  Being  bidden 
to  make  haste,  he  remarked:  **  If  it  be  so,  I  need 
not  tie  my  points."  "  So  was  he  had  down  first 
to  Bonner  to  be  degraded,  whom  he  petitioned  to 
be  allowed  to  talk  a  few  words  with  his  wife  before 
his  burning  "  —  a  reasonable  request,  which  was 
refused.  "  Then  the  sheriffs.  Master  Chester  and 
Master  Woodroove,  took  him  to  Smithfield;  and 
his  wife  and  children,  eleven  in  number,  ten  able 
to  go,  and  one  at  the  breast,  met  him  as  he  passed. 
This  sorrowful  sight  of  his  own  flesh  and  blood 
could  nothing  move  him,  but  that  he  constantly 
and  cheerfully  took  his  death  with  wonderful 
patience  in  the  defence  and  quarrel  of  Christ's 
gospel." 

While  detained  in  Newgate,  Master  Rogers  de- 
voted himself  to  the  service  of  the  ordinary 
prisoners,  to  whom  he  was  "  beneficial  and  lib- 
eral," having  thus  devised  "  that  he  with  his  fel- 
lows should  have  but  one  meal  a  day,  they  pay- 
ing, notwithstanding,  the  charges  of  the  whole ;  the 
other  meal  should  be  given  to  them  that  lacked  on 
the  other  (or  common)  side  of  the  prison.  But 
Alexander  their  keeper,  a  strait  man  and  a  right 
Alexander,  a  copi>ersmith,  indeed  .  .  .  would  in 
no  case  suffer  that." 

This  Alexander  Andrew  or  Alexander,  as  he  is 


56  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

simply  called,  figures  in  contemporary  records, 
more  especially  in  the  writings  of  Foxe,  as  a  per- 
fect type  of  the  brutal  goaler.  "  Of  gaolers,"  says 
Foxe,  "  Alexander,  keeper  of  Newgate,  exceeded 
all  others."  He  is  described  as  "  a  cruel  enemy  of 
those  that  lay  there  (Newgate)  for  religion.  The 
cruel  wretch,  to  hasten  the  poor  lambs  to  the 
slaughter,  would  go  to  Bonner,  Story,  Cholmley, 
and  others,  crying  out,  *  Rid  my  prison !  rid  my 
prison !  I  am  too  much  pestered  by  these  here- 
tics.' "  Alexander's  reception  of  an  old  friend  of 
his,  Master  Philpot,  when  committed  to  Newgate, 
is  graphically  told  by  the  old  chronicler,  "  '  Ah, 
thou  hast  well  done  to  bring  thyself  hither,'  he 
says  to  Philpot.  '  I  must  be  content,'  replied 
Philpot,  *  for  it  is  God's  appointment,  and  I  shall 
desire  you  to  let  me  have  some  gentle  favour,  for 
you  and  I  have  been  of  old  acquaintance.'  *  Well,' 
said  Alexander,  '  T  will  show  thee  great  gentleness 
and  favour,  so  thou  wilt  be  ruled  by  me.'  Then 
said  Master  Philpot,  *  I  pray  you  show  me  what  you 
would  have  me  to  do.'  He  said,  '  H  you  will 
recant  I  will  show  you  any  pleasure  I  can.*  *  Nay,' 
said  Master  Philpot,  '  T  will  never  recant  whilst  I 
have  my  life,  for  it  is  most  certain  truth,  and  in 
witness  thereof  I  will  seal  it  with  my  blood.'  Then 
Alexander  said,  *  This  is  the  saying  of  the  whole 
pack  of  you  heretics.'  Whereupon  he  commanded 
him  to  be  set  upon  the  block,  and  as  many  irons 
upon  his  legs  as  he  could  bear,  for  that  he  would 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  57 

not  follow  his  wicked  mind.  .  .  .  '  But,  good 
Master  Alexander,  be  so  much  my  friend  that 
these  irons  may  be  taken  off.'  '  Well,'  said 
Alexander,  *  give  me  my  fees,  and  I  will  take  them 
ofif;  if  not,  thou  shalt  wear  them  still.'  Then 
Master  Philpot  said,  '  Sir,  what  is  your  fee?  '  He 
said  four  pounds  was  his  fee.  *  Ah,'  said  Master 
Philpot,  *  I  have  not  so  much ;  I  am  but  a  poor 
man,  and  I  have  been  long  in  prison.'  *  What  wilt 
thou  give  me,  then  ?  '  said  Alexander.  '  Sir,'  said  he, 
'  I  will  give  you  twenty  shillings,  and  that  I  will 
send  my  man  for,  or  else  I  will  lay  my  gown  to 
gage.  For  the  time  is  not  long,  I  am  sure,  that  I 
shall  be  with  you,  for  the  bishop  said  I  should  be 
soon  despatched.'  Then  said  Alexander  unto  him, 
'What  is  that  to  me?'  and  with  that  he  departed 
for  a  time,  and  commanded  him  to  be  had  into 
limbo.  And  so  his  commandment  was  fulfilled ; 
but  before  he  could  be  taken  from  the  block  the 
clerk  would  have  a  groat.  Then  one  Willerence, 
steward  of  the  house,  took  him  on  his  back  and 
carried  him  down  his  man  knew  not  whither. 
Wherefore  Master  Philpot  said  to  his  man,  *  Go  to 
Master  Sheriff,  and  show  him  how  I  am  used,  and 
desire  Master  Sheriff  to  be  good  unto  me ; '  and  so 
his  servant  went  straightway  and  took  an  honest 
man  with  him. 

"  And  when  they  came  to  Master  Sheriff,  which 
was  Master  Ascham.  and  showed  him  how  Master 
Philpot  was  handled  in  Newgate,  the  sheriff,  hear- 


58  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

ing  this,  took  his  ring  off  his  finger  and  deHvered 
it  unto  that  honest  man  that  comes  with  Master 
Philpot's  man,  and  bade  him  go  unto  Alexander 
the  keeper  and  command  him  to  take  off  his  irons 
and  handle  him  more  gently,  and  give  his  man 
again  that  which  he  had  taken  from  him.  And 
when  they  came  to  the  said  Alexander  and  told 
their  message  from  the  sheriff,  Alexander  took  the 
ring,  and  said,  '  Ah,  I  perceive  that  Master  Sheriff 
is  a  bearer  with  him  and  all  such  heretics  as  he  is, 
therefore  to-morrow  I  will  show  it  to  his  betters ; ' 
yet  at  ten  by  the  clock  he  went  to  Master  Philpot 
where  he  lay  and  took  off  his  irons,  and  gave  him 
such  things  as  he  had  taken  before  from  his 
servant." 

Alexander's  zeal  must  have  been  very  active. 
In  1558  it  is  recorded  that  twenty-two  men  and 
women  were  committed  to  Newgate  for  praying 
together  in  the  fields  about  Islington.  They  were 
two  and  twenty  weeks  in  the  prison  before  they 
were  examined,  during  which  Alexander  sent  them 
word  that  if  they  would  hear  a  mass  they  should 
be  delivered.  According  to  Foxe  a  terrible  ven- 
geance overtook  this  hard-hearted  man.  He  died 
very  miserably,  being  so  swollen  that  he  was  more 
like  a  monster  than  a  man.  The  same  authority 
relates  that  other  persecutors  came  to  a  bad  end. 

Bishop  Hooper  soon  followed  Rogers  to  the 
stake.  The  same  Monday  night.  February  4,  1555, 
the  keeper  of  Newgate  gave  him  an  inkling  that  he 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  59 

should  be  sent  to  Gloucester  to  suffer  death,  "  and 
the  next  day  following,  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  before  day,  the  keeper  with  others  came 
to  him  and  searched  him  and  the  bed  wherein  he 
lay,  to  see  if  he  had  written  anything,  and  then 
he  was  led  to  the  sheriffs  of  London  and  other 
their  officers  forth  of  Newgate,  to  a  place  appointed 
not  far  from  Dunstan's  Church,  Fleet  Street,  where 
six  of  the  Queen's  Guards  were  appointed  to  re- 
ceive him  and  to  carry  him  to  Gloucester,  .  .  ." 
where  execution  was  to  be  done. 

We  obtain  a  curious  insight  into  the  gaol  at  New- 
gate during  Mary's  reign  from  the  narrative  of 
the  "  Hot  Gospeller."  Edward  Underbill,  a  yeoman 
of  the  Guard,  was  arrested  in  1553  for  "putting 
out "  a  ballad  which  attacked  the  queen's  title. 
Underbill  was  carried  before  the  Council,  and  there 
got  into  dispute  with  Bourne,  a  fanatic  priest 
whom  he  called  a  papist.  "  Sir  John  Mason  asked 
what  he  meant  by  that,  and  he  replied,  *  If  you  look 
among  the  priests  of  Paul's  you  will  find  some 
mumpsimusses  there.'  This  caused  much  heat,  and 
he  was  committed  to  Newgate."  At  the  door  of 
the  prison  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  asking  her  to  send 
his  nightgown,  Bible,  and  lute,  and  then  he  goes 
on  to  describe  Newgate  as  follows : 

"  In  the  centre  of  Newgate  was  a  great  open 
hall;  as  soon  as  it  was  supper-time  the  board  was 
covered  in  the  same  hall.  The  keeper,  whose  name 
was  Alexander,  with  his  wife  came  and  sat  down, 


6o  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

and  half  a  dozen  prisoners  that  were  there  for 
felony,  Underhill  being  the  first  that  for  religion 
was  sent  into  that  prison.  One  of  the  felons  had 
served  with  him  in  France.  After  supper  this  good 
fellow,  whose  name  was  Bristow,  procured  one  to 
have  a  bed  in  his  (Underbill's)  chamber  who  could 
play  well  upon  a  rebeck.  He  was  a  tall  fellow,  and 
after  one  of  Queen  Mary's  guard,  yet  a  Protestant, 
which  he  kept  secret,  or  else  he  should  not  have 
found  such  favour  as  he  did  at  the  keeper's  hands 
and  his  wife's,  for  to  such  as  loved  the  gospel  they 
were  very  cruel.  *  Well,'  said  Underhill,  '  I  have 
sent  for  my  Bible,  and,  by  God's  grace,  therein  shall 
be  my  daily  exercise;  I  will  not  hide  it  from  them.' 
'  Sir,'  said  he,  *  I  am  poor;  but  they  will  bear  with 
you,  for  they  see  your  estate  is  to  pay  well ;  and  I 
will  show  you  the  nature  and  manner  of  them,  for 
I  have  been  here  a  good  while.  They  both  do  love 
music  very  well ;  wherefore,  you  with  your  lute,  and 
I  to  play  with  you  on  my  rebeck,  will  please  them 
greatly.  He  loveth  to  be  merry  and  to  drink  wine, 
and  she  also.  If  you  will  bestow  upon  them,  every 
dinner  and  supper,  a  quart  of  wine  and  some  music, 
you  shall  be  their  white  son,  and  have  all  the  favour 
they  can  show  you.'  " 

The  honour  of  being  "  white  son "  to  the 
governor  and  governess  of  Newgate  was  worth 
aspiring  after,  as  it  meant  many  privileges  and 
much  favour.  Underhill  duly  provided  the  desired 
entertainment.     The   governor  gave  him  the  best 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  6i 

room  in  the  prison,  with  all  other  admissible  in- 
dulgences. 

"  At  last,  however,  the  evil  savours,  great  un- 
quietness,  with  over  many  draughts  of  air,  threw 
the  poor  gentleman  into  a  burning  ague.  He  shifted 
his  lodgings,  but  to  no  purpose;  the  evil  savours 
followed  him.  The  keeper  offered  him  his  own 
parlour,  where  he  escaped  from  the  noise  of  the 
prison;  but  it  was  near  the  kitchen,  and  the  smell 
of  the  meat  was  disagreeable.  Finally  the  wife  put 
him  away  in  her  store  closet,  amidst  her  best  plate, 
crockery,  and  clothes,  and  there  he  continued  to 
survive  till  the  middle  of  September,  when  he  was 
released  on  bail  through  the  interference  of  the 
Earl  of  Bedford." 

There  was  a  truce  to  religious  persecution  for 
some  years  after  Mary's  death.  Throughout 
Edward's  reign  and  the  better  part  of  Elizabeth's 
it  was  only  the  ordinary  sort  of  criminal  who  was 
committed  to  the  gaol  of  Newgate.  The  ofifences 
were  mostly  coining,  horse-stealing,  and  other  kinds 
of  thefts. 

"  One  named  Ditche  was  apprehended  at  the 
session  holden  at  Newgate  on  4th  December, 
1583,  nineteen  times  indicted,  whereof  he  con- 
fessed eighteen,  who  also  between  the  time  of  his 
apprehension  and  the  said  sessions  impeached  many 
for  stealing  horses,  whereof  (divers  being  appre- 
hended) ten  were  condemned  and  hanged  in  Smith- 
field  on  the  nth  December,  being  Friday  and  horse- 


62  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

market  there."  ^  The  "  Remembrancia  "  gives  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Valentine  Dale,  one  of  the  masters 
of  the  Court  of  Requests,  to  the  lord  mayor,  stating 
that  the  wife  of  John  Hollingshead  had  petitioned 
the  queen  to  grant  a  reprieve  and  pardon  to  her 
husband,  a  condemned  felon,  and  directing  the 
execution  to  be  stayed,  and  a  full  account  of  his 
behaviour  and  offence  forwarded  to  her  Majesty. 
The  lord  mayor  in  reply  says  that  he  had  called 
before  him  the  officers  of  Newgate,  who  stated 
that  Hollingshead  had  been  for  a  long  time  a  com- 
mon and  notorious  thief.  This  was  the  fourth  time 
he  had  been  in  Newgate  for  felonies,  and  upon  the 
last  occasion  he  had  been  branded  with  the  letter 
T  (thief).  Coiners  were  very  severely  dealt  with. 
The  offence  was  treason,  and  punished  as  such. 
There  are  many  cases  on  record,  such  as  —  "  On 
the  27th  of  January  Phillip  Meshel,  a  Frenchman, 
and  two  Englishmen  were  drawn  from  Newgate  to 
Tyburn,  and  there  hanged.  The  Frenchman 
quartered  who  had  coined  gold  counterfeit;  of  the 
Englishmen,  the  one  had  clipped  silver,  and  the 
other  cast  testers  of  tin."  "  The  30th  of  May 
Thomas  Green,  goldsmith,  was  drawn  from  New- 
gate to  Tyburn,  and  there  hanged,  beheaded,  and 
quartered,  for  clipping  of  coin,  both  gold  and 
silver." 

Towards  the  end  of  the  reign,   in  spite  of  the 

*  Friday  continued  the  day  of  horse-market  until  the  clos- 
ing of  Smithfield  as  a  market  for  live  cattle. 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  63 

stringent  acts  against  vagrancy,  the  country 
swarmed  with  rogues  and  beggars  —  vagabonds 
who  laid  the  farmers  under  contribution,  and  terri- 
fied all  honest  folk  out  of  their  lives.  In  London 
crime  was  rampart.  Even  then  it  had  its  organi- 
zation; there  were  houses  which  harboured  thieves, 
in  which  schools  were  maintained  for  the  education 
of  young  pickpockets.  ]\Iaitland  tells  us  that  in  the 
spring  of  1585,  Fleetwood,  the  recorder,  with  several 
other  magistrates  searched  the  town  and  discovered 
seven  houses  of  entertainment  of  felons.  They 
found  also  that  one  Walton,  a  gentleman  born,  once 
a  prosperous  merchant,  "  but  fallen  into  decay," 
who  had  kept  an  alehouse  which  had  been  put  down, 
had  begun  a  "  new  business."  He  opened  his  house 
for  the  reception  of  all  the  cutpurses  in  and  about 
the  city.  In  this  house  was  a  room  to  teach  young 
boys  to  cut  purses.  Two  devices  were  hung  up; 
one  was  a  pocket,  the  other  was  a  purse.  The 
pocket  had  in  it  certain  counters,  and  was  hung 
round  with  hawk's  bells,  and  over  them  hung  a 
little  sacring  ^  bell.  The  purse  had  silver  in  it,  and 
he  that  could  take  out  a  counter  without  any  noise 
was  allowed  to  be  a  public  foyster;  and  he  that 
could  take  a  piece  of  silver  out  of  the  purse  without 
noise  of  any  of  the  bells  was  adjudged  a  clever 
nypper.    These  places  gave  great  encouragement  to 


*  The  bell  which  was  rung  at  mass  on  the  elevation  of  the 
host. 


64  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

evil-doers  in  these  times,  but  were  soon  after  sup- 
pressed. 

In  1 58 1  a  fresh  rehgious  persecution  began, 
happily  without  the  sanguinary  accessories  of  that 
of  Mary's  reign.  Elizabeth  had  no  love  for  the 
Puritans;  she  also  began  now  to  hate  and  fear  the 
papists.  Orthodoxy  was  insisted  upon.  People 
who  would  not  go  to  church  were  sent  first  to  prison, 
then  haled  before  Sessions  and  fined  a  matter  of 
twenty  pounds  each.  Still  worse  fared  the  adherents 
or  emissaries  of  Rome.  In  1569  a  man  named  John 
Felton  had  been  drawn  from  Newgate  into  Paul's 
Churchyard,  and  there  hanged  and  quartered  as  a 
traitor  for  affixing  a  bull  of  Pope  Pius  V  on  the 
gate  of  the  Bishop  of  London's  palace.  In  1578  it 
is  recorded  that  "  the  papists  are  stubborn."  So 
also  must  have  been  the  Puritans.  "  One  Sherwood 
brought  before  the  Bishop  of  London  behaved  so 
stubbornly  that  the  bishop  will  show  no  more  favour 
to  those  miscalled  Puritans."  Next  began  a  fierce 
crusade  against  the  "  seminary "  priests,  who 
swarmed  into  England  like  missionaries,  des- 
patched in  partibiis  iufidclium  to  minister  to  the 
faithful  few  and  bring  back  all  whom  they  could 
to  the  fold.  Newgate  was  now  for  ever  full  of 
these  priests.  They  adopted  all  manner  of  dis- 
guises, and  went  now  as  soldiers,  now  as  private 
gentlemen,  now  openly  as  divines.  They  were 
harboured  and  hidden  by  faithful  Roman  Catholics, 
and  managed  thus  to  glide  unperceived  from  point 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  65 

to  point  intent  upon  their  dangerous  business.  But 
they  did  not  always  escape  observation,  and  when 
caught  they  were  invariably  laid  by  the  heels  and 
hardly  dealt  with.  Gerard  Dance,  alias  Ducket,  a 
seminary  priest,  was  arraigned  in  1581  at  the  Old 
Bailey  before  the  queen's  justices,  and  affirmed  that 
although  he  was  in  England,  he  was  subject  to  the 
Pope  in  ecclesiastical  causes,  and  that  the  Pope  had 
now  the  same  authority  in  England  as  he  had  a 
hundred  years  ago,  and  which  he  exercised  at 
Rome,  "  with  other  traitorous  speeches,  for  which 
he  was  condemned  to  be  hanged,  drawn,  and 
quartered."  The  same  year  William  Dios  (a 
Spaniard),  keeper  of  Newgate,  sent  a  certificate 
of  the  names  of  the  recusants  now  in  Newgate, 
"  viz.,  Lawrence  Wakeman  and  others,  .  .  .  the 
two  last  being  of  the  precise  sort."  April  20,  1586, 
Robert  Rowley,  taken  upon  seas  by  Captain  Bur- 
rows going  to  Scotland,  is  committed  first  to  the 
Marshalsea,  and  from  thence  to  Newgate.  Next 
year,  August  26th,  Richard  Young  reports  to 
Secretary  Walsyngham  that  he  has  talked  with 
sundry  priests  remaining  in  the  prisons  about  Lon- 
don. "  Some,"  he  says,  "  are  very  evil  affected, 
and  unworthy  to  live  in  England.  Simpson,  alias 
Heygate,  and  Flower,  priests,  have  justly  deserved 
death,  and  in  no  wise  merit  her  Majesty's  mercy. 
William  Wigges,  Leonard  Hide,  and  George  Collin- 
son,  priests  in  Newgate,  are  dangerous  fellows,  as 
are  also  Morris  Williams  and  Thomas  Pounde,  the 


66  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

latter  committed  as  a  layman,  but  in  reality  a  pro- 
fessed Jesuit.  Francis  Tirrell  is  an  obstinate  papist, 
and  is  doubted  to  be  a  spy." 

We  read  as  follows  in  an  intercepted  letter  from 
Cardinal  John  Allen,  Rector  of  the  English  Col- 
lege at  Rheims,  to  Mr.  White,  seminary  priest  in 
the  Clink  Prison,  and  the  rest  of  the  priests  in 
Newgate,  the  Fleet,  and  the  Marshalsea.  "  Pope 
Sextus  sends  them  his  blessing,  and  will  send  them 
over  for  their  comfort  Dr.  Reynolds,  chief  Jesuit 
of  the  college  at  Rheims,  who  must  be  carefully 
concealed,"  .  .  .  with  others,  ..."  whose 
discourses  would  be  a  great  joy  to  all  heretics.  They 
will  bring  some  consecrated  crucifixes,  late  con- 
secrated by  his  Holiness,  and  some  books  to  be 
given  to  the  chief  est  Catholics,  their  greatest  bene- 
factors." This  letter  was  taken  upon  a  young  man, 
Robert  Weston,  travelling  to  seek  service,  "  who 
seems  to  have  had  considerable  dealings  with 
recusants,  and  to  have  made  very  full  confessions." 

It  was  easier  for  all  such  to  get  into  Newgate, 
at  that  time,  than  to  obtain  release.  Henry  Ash 
and  Michael  Genison,  being  prisoners  in  Newgate, 
petition  Lord  Keeper  Pickering  for  a  warrant  for 
their  enlargement  upon  putting  in  good  security 
for  their  appearance;  "they  were  long  since  com- 
mitted by  Justice  Young  and  the  now  Bishop  of 
London  for  recusancy,  where  they  remain,  to  their 
great  shame  and  utter  undoing,  and  are  likely  to 
continue,  unless  he   extend   his  mercy."     In   1598 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY  67 

George  Barkworth  petitions  Secretary  Cecil  "  that 
he  was  committed  to  Newgate  six  months  ago  on 
suspicion  of  being  a  seminary  priest,  which  he  is  not; 
has  been  examined  nine  times,  and  brought  up  at 
Sessions  four  times;  begs  the  same  hberty  of  the 
house  at  Bridewell  which  was  granted  him  at  New- 
gate." 

Political  prisoners  were  not  wanting  in  Newgate 
in  the  Elizabethan  period.  In  1585  instructions 
are  given  to  the  recorder  to  examine  one  Hall,  a 
prisoner  in  Newgate,  charged  with  a  design  for  con- 
veying away  the  Queen  of  Scots.  This  was  a  part 
of  Babington's  conspiracy,  for  which  Throgmorton 
also  suffered.  Other  victims,  besides  the  un- 
fortunate queen  herself,  were  Babington,  Tich- 
bourne,  and  many  more,  who  after  trial  at  the  Old 
Bailey,  and  incarceration  in  Newgate,  were  hanged 
in  St.  Giles's  Fields.  The  execution  was  carried 
out  with  great  barbarity;  seven  of  the  conspirators 
were  cut  down  before  they  were  dead  and  disem- 
bowelled. Another  plot  against  Elizabeth's  life  was 
discovered  in  1587,  the  actors  in  which  were  "one 
Moody,  an  idle,  profligate  fellow,  then  prisoner  in 
Newgate,  and  one  Stafford,  brother  to  Sir  Edward 
Stafford."  The  great  Queen  Bess  in  these  last  days 
of  her  reign  went  in  constant  terror  of  her  life;  and 
a  third  conspiracy  to  poison  her,  originating  with 
her  own  physician  and  Lopez,  a  Jew,  led  to  their 
execution  as  traitors.  Again,  Squires,  a  disbanded 
soldier,   was  charged  with  putting  poison   on  the 


68  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

pommel  of  her  saddle,  and  although  he  admitted 
his  guilt  upon  the  rack,  he  declared  when  dying  that 
he  was  really  innocent. 

All  this  time  within  Newgate  there  was  turbu- 
lence, rioting,  disorders,  accompanied  seemingly  by 
constant  oppression.  The  prisoners  were  ready  to 
brave  anything  to  get  out.  General  gaol  deliveries 
were  made  otherwise  than  in  due  course  of  law. 
Those  that  were  fit  to  serve  in  the  sea  or  land  forces 
were  frequently  pardoned  and  set  free.  A  petition 
to  the  Lord  Admiral  (1589)  is  preserved  in  which 
certain  prisoners,  shut  out  from  pardon  because 
they  are  not  "  by  law  bailable,"  beg  that  the  words 
may  be  struck  out  of  the  order  for  release,  and  state 
that  they  will  gladly  enter  her  Majesty's  service. 
Many  made  determined  efforts  to  escape.  "  The 
i6th  December,  1556,"  says  Holinshed,  "Gregory, 
carpenter  and  smith,  and  a  Frenchman  born  were 
arraigned  for  making  counterfeit  keys  wherewith  to 
have  opened  the  locks  of  Newgate,  to  have  slain  the 
keeper  and  let  forth  the  prisoners ;  at  which  time 
of  his  arraignment,  having  conveyed  a  knife  into 
his  sleeve,  he  thrust  it  into  the  side  of  William 
Whiteguts,  his  fellow  prisoner,  who  had  given 
evidence  against  him,  so  that  he  was  in  great  peril 
of  death  thereby;  for  the  which  fact  he  was  im- 
mediately taken  from  the  bar  into  the  street  before 
the  justice  hall,  when,  his  hand  being  first  stricken 
off,  he  was  hanged  on  a  gibbet  set  up  for  the  pur- 
pose. 


THE    SIXTEENTH    CENTURY 


69 


"  The  keeper  of  Newgate  was  arraigned  and 
indicted  for  that  the  said  prisoner  had  a  weapon 
about  him  and  his  hands  loose,  which  should  have 
been  bound." 

Yet  the  keeper  of  Newgate  and  other  gaolers 
were  sometimes  kept  within  bounds.  Two  cases 
may  be  quoted  in  which  these  officials  were  promptly 
brought  to  book.  In  1555  the  keeper  of  the  Bread 
Street  Compter,  by  name  Richard  Husband,  pasteler, 
"  being  a  willful  and  headstrong  man,"  who,  with 
servants  like  himself,  had  dealt  hardly  with  the 
prisoners  in  his  charge,  was  sent  to  the  gaol  of 
Newgate  by  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  mayor,  with  the 
assent  of  a  court  of  aldermen.  "  It  was  commanded 
to  the  keeper  to  set  those  irons  on  his  legs  which 
were  called  widows'  alms;  these  he  wore  from 
Thursday  till  Sunday  in  the  afternoon."  On  the 
Tuesday  he  was  released,  but  not  before  he  was 
bound  over  in  an  hundred  marks  to  act  in  con- 
formity with  the  rules  for  the  managing  of  the 
Compters.  "  All  which  notwithstanding,  he  con- 
tinued as  before :  .  .  .  the  prisoners  were  ill- 
treated,  the  prison  was  made  a  common  lodging- 
house  at  fourpence  the  night  for  thieves  and  night- 
walkers,  whereby  they  might  be  safe  from  searches 
that  were  made  abroad."  He  was  indicted  for  these 
•and  other  enormities,  "  but  did  rub  it  out,  and  could 
not  be  reformed,  till  the  prisoners  were  removed; 
for  the  house  in  Bread  Street  was  his  own  by  lease 
or  otherwise,  and  he  could  not  be  put  from  it."    A 


70 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


searching  inquiry  was  also  made  into  the  conduct 
of  Crowder,  the  keeper  of  Newgate  in  1580,  or 
thereabouts.  The  State  Papers  contain  an  informa- 
tion of  the  disorders  practised  by  the  officers  of 
Newgate  prison,  levying  fines  and  taking  bribes,  by 
old  and  young  Crowders,  the  gaolers.  "  Crowder 
and  his  wife,"  says  the  report,  "  be  most  horrible 
blasphemers  and  swearers."  The  matter  is  taken  up 
by  the  lords  of  the  Council,  who  write  to  the  lord 
mayor,  desiring  to  be  fully  informed  of  all  disorders 
committed,  and  by  whom.  "  They  are  sending 
gentlemen  to  repair  to  the  prison  to  inquire  into  the 
case,  and  requesting  the  lord  mayor  to  appoint  two 
persons  to  assist  them."  Sir  Christopher  Hatton  also 
writes  to  the  lord  mayor,  drawing  attention  to  the 
charges  against  Crowder.  The  lord  mayor  replies 
that  certain  persons  had  been  appointed  to  inquire, 
but  had  not  yet  made  their  report.  The  Court  of 
Enquiry  are  willing  to  receive  Crowder,  but  he 
persists  in  refusing  to  explain.  "  He  would  not 
come  to  their  meeting,  but  stood  upon  his  reputa- 
tion." The  result,  so  far  as  can  be  guessed,  was 
that  Crowder  was  pensioned  off.  But  he  found 
powerful  friends  in  his  adversity.  His  cause  was 
espoused  by  Sir  Thomas  Bromley,  Lord  Chancellor, 
who  informs  the  lord  mayor  that  he  thinks  Crowder 
has  been  dealt  with  very  hardly,  and  that  his 
accusers  were  persons  unworthy  of  credit. 


CHAPTER  III 

NEWGATE  IN  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTURY 

Jesuit  emissaries  in  Newgate  —  Richardson  and  others  — 
Speaking  ill  of  king's  sister  entails  imprisonment  for  life 
—  Criminal  offenders  —  Condition  of  prisoners  —  Fanatical 
conduct  of  keeper  —  Nefarious  practices  of  turnkeys  — 
They  levy  blackmail  —  "  Coney  catching  "  —  Arbitrary  im- 
prisonment imposed  by  House  of  Lords  on  Richard  Over- 
ton —  Case  of  Colonel  Lilburne,  "  Freeborn  John "  — 
Royalists  in  gaol  —  Also  prisoners  of  mark  —  Brother  of 
the  Portuguese  ambassador  charged  with  murder,  and 
executed. 

The  disturbing  elements  of  society  continued 
much  the  same  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century  as  in  the  years  immediately  preceding. 
There  were  the  same  offences  against  law  and  order, 
dealt  with  in  the  same  summary  fashion.  Newgate 
was  perpetually  crowded  with  prisoners  charged 
with  the  same  sort  of  crimes.  Bigotry  and  in- 
tolerance continued  to  breed  persecution.  All  sects 
which  differed  from  the  faith  professed  by  those  in 
power  were  in  turn  under  the  ban  of  the  law.  The 
Romish  priest  still  ventured  into  the  hostile  heretic 
land  where  his  life  was  not  worth  a  minute's  pur- 
chase; Puritans  and  Non-conformists  were  com- 
mitted to  gaol  for  refusing  to  surrender  their 
heterodox  opinions:  these  last  coming  into  power 

71 


72  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

were  ruthlessly  strict  towards  the  openly  irreligious 
backslider.  Side  by  side  with  these  sufferers  in  the 
cause  of  independent  thought  swarmed  the  depre- 
dators, the  wrong-doers,  whose  criminal  instincts 
and  the  actions  they  produced  were  much  the  same 
as  they  had  been  before  and  as  they  are  now. 

The  devoted  courage  of  the  Jesuit  emissaries  in 
those  days  of  extreme  peril  for  all  priests  who  dared 
to  cross  the  channel  claims  for  them  a  full  measure 
of  respect.  They  were  for  ever  in  trouble.  When 
caught  they  met  hard  words,  scant  mercy,  often 
only  a  short  shrift.  Repeated  references  are  made 
to  them.  In  the  State  Papers,  July,  1602,  is  a  list 
of  priests  and  recusants  in  prison,  viz.,  "  Newgate 
—  Pound  (already  mentioned),  desperate  and 
obstinate;  ...  in  the  Clink,  Marshalsea,  King's 
Bench,  are  others;  among  them  Douce,  a  forward 
intelligence,  Tichbome,  Webster,  perverter  of 
youth,"  etc.  They  were  ever  the  victims  of 
treachery  and  espionage.  '*  William  Richardson,  a 
priest  of  Seville  College  (the  date  is  1603),  was 
discovered  to  the  Chief  Justice  by  one  whom  he 
trusted,  and  arraigned  and  condemned  at  Newgate 
for  being  a  priest  and  coming  to  England.  When 
examined  he  answered  stoutly,  yet  with  great 
modesty  and  discretion,  moving  many  to  com- 
passionate him  and  speak  against  the  Chief 
Justice,  on  whom  he  laid  the.  guilt  of  his 
blood."  He  was  executed  at  Tyburn,  hanged 
and     quartered,     but     his     head     and     quarters 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 


73 


were  buried.  "  Such  spectacles,"  says  the  writer, 
Ant.  Aivers,  to  Giacomo  Creleto,  Venice,  "  do 
nothing  increase  the  gospel.  ..."  A  further 
account  says  that  William  Richardson,  alias  Ander- 
son, was  betrayed  by  a  false  brother,  sent  to  New- 
gate, and  kept  close  prisoner  over  a  week,  no  one 
being  allowed  to  see  him.  The  Chief  Justice,  inter- 
rupting other  trials,  called  for  him  and  caused  him 
to  be  indicted  of  high  treason  for  being  a  priest  and 
coming  to  England.  All  of  which  he  confessed,  and 
there  being  no  evidence  against  him,  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice gave  his  confession  in  writing  to  the  jury,  who 
found  him  guilty.  "  He  thanked  God  and  told  the 
Chief  Justice  he  was  a  bloody  man,  and  sought  the 
blood  of  the  Catholics.  He  denied  that  he  was  a 
Jesuit  or  knew  Garnet.^    .    .    ." 

Priests  were  subject  to  espionage  even  beyond  the 
realm.  A  deposition  is  given  in  the  State  Papers 
made  by  one  Arthur  Saul,  to  the  effect  that  he  had 
been  employed  by  Secretary  Win  wood  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  report  what  English 
were  at  Douay  College,  particulars  of  priests  who 
have  returned  to  England,  of  their  meeting-places 
and  conveyance  of  letters. 

These  were  days  of  widespread  oppression,  when 
Strafford,  Laud,  the  Star  Chamber,  and  ecclesias- 
tical courts  gave  effect  to  the  king's  eager  longings 
for  arbitrary  power.    The  following  is  from  a  half- 

*  Chief    of    the   Jesuits    in    England,    afterwards    executed 
(1608). 


74 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


mad  fanatic  who  has  offended  the  relentless  arch- 
bishop. "  The  petition  of  Richard  Farnham,  a 
prophet  of  the  most  high  God,  a  true  subject  to  my 
king,  and  a  prisoner  of  my  saviour  Christ,  in  New- 
gate, to  Archbishop  Laud  and  the  rest  of  the  high 
commissioners,  whom  he  prays  to  excuse  his  plain- 
ness, being  no  scholar.  .  .  .  Desires  to  know  the 
cause  of  his  being  detained  so  long  in  prison,  where 
he  has  been  kept  a  year  next  April  without  coming 
to  his  answer.  Thinks  they  have  forgotten  him.  If 
he  be  a  false  prophet  and  a  blasphemer  and  a 
seducer,  as  most  people  report  that  he  is,  the  high 
commissioners  would  do  well  to  bring  him  to  trial. 
What  he  wrote  before  he  came  into  prison  and  what 
he  has  written  since  he  will  stand  to.  .  .  .  If  he 
does  not  get  his  answer  this  summer  he  intends  to 
complain  to  the  king,  believing  that  it  is  not  his 
pleasure  his  subjects  should  suffer  false  imprison- 
ment to  satisfy  the  archbishop's  mind."  Of  the 
same  year  and  the  same  character  is  this  other  peti- 
tion from  William  King,  a  prisoner  in  Newgate, 
"  for  a  little  treatise  delivered  to  Lord  Leppington." 
Has  remained  in  thraldom  twenty-seven  months; 
expresses  contrition  and  prays  enlargement  on  bail, 
or  that  he  may  be  called  to  answer. 

Forty  years  more  were  to  elapse  before  the  pass- 
ing of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act;  but  the  foregoing 
will  show  how  grievously  this  so-called  palladium 
.of  an  Englishman's  liberties  was  required. 

Pardons  free  or  more  or  less  conditional  were, 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY         75 

however,  vouchsafed  at  times.  Release  from  prison 
was  still,  as  before,  and  for  long  after,  frequently 
accompanied  by  the  penalty  of  military  service. 
This  had  long  been  the  custom.  On  declaration  of 
war  in  the  earlier  reigns,  it  was  usual  to  issue  a 
proclamation  offering  a  general  pardon  to  those 
guilty  of  homicides  and  felonies  on  condition  of 
service  for  a  year  and  a  day.  Even  without  this 
obligation  prisoners  in  durance  might  sue  out  a 
pardon  by  intercession  of  some  nobleman  serving 
abroad  with  the  king.  But  later  on  the  release  was 
distinctly  conditional  on  personal  service.  The  lord 
mayor  certifies  to  the  king  (1619)  that  certain 
prisoners  in  Newgate,  whose  names  and  offences 
are  given,  are  not  committed  for  murder;  so  they 
are  reprieved,  as  being  able-bodied  and  fit  to  do  serv- 
ice in  foreign  parts.  Another  certificate  states  that 
Wililam  Dominic,  condemned  to  death  for  stealing 
a  purse,  value  £4,  is  reprieved,  "  this  being  his  first 
offence,  and  he  an  excellent  drummer,  fit  to  do  the 
king  service."  Again,  the  king  requires  the  keeper 
of  Newgate  to  deliver  certain  reprieved  prisoners 
to  Sir  Edward  Conway,  Junior,  to  be  employed  in 
his  Majesty's  service  in  the  Low  Countries.  Re- 
corder Finch  reports  that  he  has  furnished  "  Con- 
way's son  with  seven  prisoners  fit  for  service ;  sends 
a  list  of  prisoners  now  in  Newgate,  but  reprieved. 
Some  have  been  long  in  gaol,  and  were  saved  from 
execution  by  the  prince's  return  [with  Buckingham 
from  Spain?]  on  that  day.     They  pester  the  gaol, 


76  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

which  is  already  reported  crowded,  this  hot  weather, 
and  would  do  better  service  as  soldiers  if  pardoned, 
*  for  they  would  not  dare  to  run  away.'  "  A  war- 
rant is  made  out  June  5,  1629,  to  the  sheriffs  of 
London  to  deliver  to  such  persons  as  the  Swedish 
ambassador  shall  appoint,  forty-seven  persons,  of 
whom  one  was  Elizabeth  Leech  (was  she  to  be  em- 
ployed as  a  sutler  or  vivandiercf),  being  prisoners 
condemned  of  felonies,  and  remaining  in  the  gaols 
of  Newgate  and  Bridewell,  who  are  released  "  to 
the  end  that  they  may  be  employed  in  the  service 
of  the  King  of  Sweden  "  —  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
at  that  time  our  ally.  There  are  numerous  entries 
of  this  kind  in  the  State  Papers. 

Sometimes  the  prisoners  volunteer  for  service. 
"  John  Tapps,  by  the  displeasure  of  the  late  Lord 
Chief  Justice  and  the  persecution  of  James  the 
clerk  and  one  of  the  keepers,  has  been  kept  from 
the  benefit  of  the  pardon  which  has  been  stayed 
at  the  Great  Seal.  Begs  Lord  Conway  to  perfect 
his  work  by  moving  the  lord  keeper  in  his  behalf, 
and  in  the  mean  time  sending  some  powerful  war- 
rant for  his  employment  as  a  soldier."  Certain 
other  convicted  prisoners  in  Newgate,  who  had  been 
pardoned  in  respect  of  the  birth  of  Prince  Charles 
II,  petitioned  that  they  are  altogether  impoverished, 
and  unable  to  sue  out  their  pardons.  They  pray 
that  by  warrant  they  may  be  transported  into  the 
State  of  Venice  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Ludovic  Hamilton. 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 


77 


This  document  is  endorsed  with  a  reference  to 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  to 
certify  concerning  these  dehnquents  and  their 
crimes. 

George  Gardener,  a  prisoner  in  Newgate,  also 
petitions  the  king  in  March,  1630,  stating  that  he 
was  committed  by  the  council  on  the  information 
of  James  Ingram,  deputy  warden  of  the  Fleet,  to 
prevent  petitioner  prosecuting  the  said  Ingram  for 
his  notorious  extortions.  He  has  remained  in  New- 
gate since  April  previous,  and  by  Ingram's  pro- 
curement was  shut  up  amongst  felons  in  the  com- 
mon gaol,  whereby  he  might  have  been  murdered, 
and  prays  that  he  may  be  allowed  to  go  abroad  on 
security.  Here  is  another  petition ;  that  of  Bridget 
Gray  to  the  council.  She  states  (July  19,  161 8) 
that  her  grandson,  John  Throckmorton,  is  a  pris- 
oner in  Newgate  for  felony,  and  prays  that  he  may 
be  discharged,  this  being  his  first  offence,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Smythe  being  ready  to  convey  him  beyond 
seas.  Upon  this  is  endorsed  an  order  that  if  the 
mayor  or  recorder  will  certify  that  Throckmorton 
was  not  convicted  of  murder,  burglary,  highway 
robbery,  rape,  or  witchcraft,  a  warrant  may  be 
made  for  his  banishment  The  certificate  is  forth- 
coming, and  is  to  the  effect  that  Throckmorton's 
crime  was  aiding  in  stealing  a  hat,  value  6s.,  for 
which  the  principal,  Robert  Whisson,  an  old  thief, 
was  hanged. 

The  gaol  calendar  reflects  the  vicissitudes  of  these 


78  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

changing,  troublous  times.  There  were  many  Lon- 
don citizens  who,  sharing  the  patriotic  spirit  of 
Hampden  and  Pym,  found  themselves  imprisoned 
for  refusing  to  submit  to  the  illegal  taxations  of 
Charles  L  In  1639,  "  three  citizens  stand  com- 
mitted to  Newgate,  not  because  they  refuse  to  pay 
ship-money,  but  because  they  refuse  to  enter 
into  bond  to  attend  the  Board  to  answer  their  not 
paying  the  same.  Divers  others  refused,  and 
were  sent  to  Newgate ;  but  upon  better  considera- 
tion they  paid  their  money,  and  were  released 
again."  The  temper  of  the  Government  as  regards 
ship-money  is  further  shown  by  the  arrest  and 
trial  of  the  keeper  of  Newgate  for  permitting  a 
prisoner  committed  for  non-payment  of  this  un- 
lawful tax  to  go  at  large.  It  appears  that  the 
offender,  Richard  Chambers,  had  been  several  times 
remanded  to  the  same  custody,  and  had  been  allowed 
to  escape. 

It  was  highly  dangerous  to  speak  lightly  of 
dignities  in  these  ticklish  times.  The  State  trials 
give  an  account  of  the  hard  measure  meted  out 
to  one  Edward  Floyde  for  scandalizing  the  princess 
palatine,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  James  I,  and 
titular  Queen  of  Bohemia.  Floyde  was  charged 
with  having  said,  while  he  was  a  prisoner  in  the 
Fleet,  "  I  have  heard  that  Prague  is  taken,  and 
goodman  Palsgrave  and  goodw^fe  Palsgrave  have 
taken  to  their  heels  and  run  away."  This  puerile 
gossip  seriously  occupied  both  houses  of  Parliament, 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 


79 


and  eventually  the  Lords  awarded  and  adjudged 
that  Edward  Floyde  be  deemed  an  infamous  person, 
incapable  of  bearing  arms  as  a  gentleman,  whose 
testimony  was  not  to  be  taken  in  any  court  or  cause. 
He  was  also  sentenced  to  ride  with  his  head  to  his 
horse's  tail  from  Westminster  to  the  pillory  in 
Cheapside ;  after  this  to  be  whipped  from  the  Fleet 
to  Westminster,  there  again  to  stand  on  the  pillory. 
He  was  to  pay  a  fine  of  £5,000  to  the  king,  and  be 
imprisoned  in  Newgate  during  his  life. 

There  is  nothing  especially  remarkable  in  the 
purely  criminal  cases  of  this  period;  offences  have 
a  strong  family  likeness  to  those  of  our  own  day. 
Culprits  are  "  cast "  for  life  for  taking  a  chest  of 
plate  out  of  a  house;  or  for  taking  £100  from  a 
gentleman  and  so  forth.  Now  and  again  appears 
a  case  of  abduction,  a  common  crime  in  those  and 
later  days.  Sarah  Cox  prays  the  king's  pardon  for 
Roger  Fulwood,  who  was  convicted  of  felony  for 
forcibly  marrying  her  against  her  will.  But  she 
begs  at  the  same  time  for  protection  for  person  and 
estate  from  any  claims  in  regard  to  the  pretended 
marriage.  Knights  of  the  road  have  already  be- 
gun to  operate;  they  have  already  the  brevet 
rank  of  captain,  and  even  lads  of  tender  years 
are  beguiled  into  adopting  the  profession  of 
highway  robbery.  Counterfeiting  the  king's  or 
other  great  seals  was  an  offence  not  unknown. 
A  Captain  Farrar  is  lodged  in  Newgate  (1639), 
accused  of  counterfeiting  his  Majesty's  signature 


8o  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

and  privy  signet.  His  method  of  procedure  was 
simple.  Having  received  a  document  bearing  his 
Majesty's  privy  seal  for  the  payment  of  a  sum  of 
£igo,  he  removed  the  seal  and  affixed  it  to  a  paper 
purporting  to  be  a  license  from  the  king  to  levy 
and  transport  two  hundred  men  beyond  seas.  This 
he  published  as  a  royal  license.  When  arraigned 
he  admitted  that  the  charge  was  true,  but  pleaded 
that  he  had  done  the  same  according  to  the  king's 
commands.  He  was  reprieved  until  further  orders. 
The  condition  of  the  prisoners  within  Newgate 
continued  very  deplorable.  This  is  apparent  from 
the  occasional  references  to  their  treatment.  They 
were  heavily  ironed,  lodged  in  loathsome  dungeons, 
and  all  but  starved  to  death.  Poor  Stephen  Smith, 
the  fishmonger,  who  had  contravened  the  pre- 
cautionary rules  against  the  plague,  petitions  the 
council  that  he  has  been  very  heavily  laden  with 
such  intolerable  bolts  and  shackles  that  he  is  lamed, 
and  being  a  weak  and  aged  man,  is  like  to  perish  in 
the  gaol.  "  Having  always  lived  in  good  reputation 
and  been  a  liberal  benefactor  where  he  has  long 
dwelt,  he  prays  enlargement  on  security."  The 
prison  is  so  constantly  overcrowded  that  the  prison- 
ers have  "  an  infectious  malignant  fever  which 
sends  many  to  their  long  home.  The  magistrates 
who  think  them  unfit  to  breathe  their  native  air 
when  living  bury  them  as  brethren  when  dead." 
All  kinds  of  robbery  and  oppression  were  practised 
within  the  precincts  of  the  gaol.    Inside,  apart  from 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY        8i 

personal  discomfort,  the  inmates  do  much  as  they 
please.  "  There  are  seditious  preachings  by  Fifth 
Monarchy  men  at  Newgate,"  say  the  records,  "  and 
prayers  for  all  righteous  blood."  Some  time 
previous,  when  the  Puritans  were  nominally  the 
weakest,  they  also  held  their  services  in  the  prison. 
Samuel  Eaton,  a  prisoner  committed  to  Newgate 
as  a  dangerous  schismatic,  is  charged  with  having 
conventicles  in  the  gaol,  some  to  the  number  of 
seventy  persons.  He  was,  moreover,  permitted  by 
the  keeper  to  preach  openly.  The  keeper  was 
petitioned  by  one  of  the  inmates  to  remove  Eaton 
and  send  him  to  some  other  part  of  the  prison,  but 
he  replied  disdainfully,  threatening  to  remove  the 
petitioner  to  a  worse  place. 

An  instruction  to  the  lord  mayor  and  sheriffs  in 
the  State  Papers  (Dec,  1649)  directs  them  to  ex- 
amine the  miscarriages  of  the  under  officers  of 
Newgate  who  were  favourers  of  the  felons  and 
robbers  there  committed,  and  to  remove  such  as  ap- 
pear faulty.  The  nefarious  practices  of  the  New- 
gate officers  were  nothing  new.  They  are  set  forth 
with  much  quaintness  of  diction  and  many  curious 
details  in  a  pamphlet  of  the  period,  entitled  the 
"  Black  Dogge  of  Newgate."  There  was  a  tavern 
entitled  the  "  Dogge  Tavern  in  Newgate,"  as  ap- 
pears by  the  State  Papers,  where  the  place  is  in- 
dicated by  an  informer  for  improper  practices.  The 
pamphlet  sheds  a  strong  light  upon  the  evil-doings 
of  the  turnkeys,  who  appear  to  have  been  guilty  of 


82  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  grossest  extortion,  taking  advantage  of  their 
position  as  officers  of  the  law  to  levy  blackmail 
alike  on  criminals  and  their  victims.  Of  these 
swindling  turnkeys  or  bailiffs,  whom  the  writer 
designates  "  coney-catchers,"  he  tells  many  dis- 
creditable tales. 

The  term  coney-catching  had  long  been  in  use 
to  define  a  species  of  fraud  akin  to  our  modem 
"  confidence  trick,"  or,  as  the  French  call  it,  the 
vol  a  V Amcricain.  Shakespeare,  in  the  "  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor,"  makes  Falstaff  call  Bardolph, 
Nym,  and  Pistol  "  coney-catching  rascals."  The 
fraud  was  then  of  but  recent  introduction.  It  is 
detailed  at  length  by  Robert  Greene  in  his  "  No- 
table Discovery  of  Cozenage,"  published  in  1591. 
He  characterizes  it  as  a  new  art.  Three  parties 
were  needed  to  practise  it,  called  respectively  the 
"setter."  the  "  verser,"  and  the  barnacle;"  their 
game,  or  victim,  was  the  "  coney."  The  first  was 
the  decoy,  the  second  was  a  confederate  who  plied 
the  coney  with  drink,  the  third  came  in  by  accident 
should  the  efforts  of  the  others  to  beguile  the  coney 
into  "  a  deceit  at  cards  "  have  failed.  In  the  end 
the  countryman  was  completely  despoiled.  Later  on 
there  was  a  new  nomenclature :  the  setter  became 
the  "  beater,"  the  tavern  to  which  the  rogues  ad- 
journed was  the  "  bush,"  and  the  quarry  was  the 
"  bird."  The  verser  was  the  "  retriever,"  the 
barnacle  was  the  "  pot-hunter,"  and  the  game  was 
called  "  bat- fowling."     Greene's  exposure  was  sup- 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 


83 


posed  to  have  deprived  the  coney-catchers  of  a 
"  collop  of  their  living."  But  they  still  prospered 
at  their  nefarious  practices,  according  to  the  author 
of  the  "  Black  Dogge." 

Plain  symptoms  of  the  approaching  struggle  be- 
tween the  king  and  the  commons  are  to  be  met 
with  in  the  prison  records.  Immediately  after  the 
meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  orders  were  issued 
for  the  enlargement  of  many  victims  of  Star  Cham- 
ber oppression.  Among  them  was  the  celebrated 
Prynne,  author  of  the  "  Histriomatrix,"  ^  who  had 
lost  his  ears  in  the  pillory ;  Burton,  a  clergyman,  and 
Bastwick,  a  physician,  who  had  suffered  the  same 
penalties  —  all  came  out  of  prison  triumphant, 
wearing  ivy  and  rosemary  in  their  hats.  Now 
Strafford  was  impeached  and  presently  beheaded; 
Laud  also  was  condemned.  The  active  interference 
of  Parliament  in  all  affairs  of  State  extended  to 
the  arrest  of  persons  suspected  of  treasonable 
practices.  There  are  many  cases  of  imprisonment 
more  or  less  arbitrary  in  these  troubled  times. 
Another  petition  may  be  quoted,  that  of  Richard 
Overton,  "  a  prisoner  in  the  most  contemptible  gaol 
of  Newgate,"  under  an  order  of  the  House  of 
Lords.  Overton  tells  us  how  he  was  brought  before 
that  House  "  in  a  warlike  manner,  under  pretence 
of  a  criminal  fact,  and  called  upon  to  answer  in- 
terrogations concerning  himself  which  he  conceived 
to  be  illegal  and  contrary  to  the  national  rights, 

*  A  homily  against  play-acting  and  masquerades. 


84  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

freedoms,  and  properties  of  the  free  commoners  of 
England,  confirmed  to  them  by  Magna  Charta,  the 
Petition  of  Right,  and  the  Act  for  the  Abolish- 
ment of  the  Star  Chamber."  Overton  was  there- 
fore emboldened  to  refuse  subjection  to  the  said 
House.  He  was  adjudged  guilty  of  contempt,  and 
committed  to  Newgate,  where  he  was  seemingly 
doomed  to  lie  until  their  lordships'  pleasure  should 
be  further  signified,  which  "  may  be  perpetual  if 
they  please,  and  may  have  their  wills,  for  your 
petitioner  humbly  conceiveth  that  he  is  made  a 
prisoner  to  their  wills,  not  to  the  law,  except  their 
wills  may  be  a  law."  On  this  account  he  appealed 
to  the  Commons  "  as  the  most  sovereign  Court  of 
Judicature  in  the  land,"  claiming  from  them,  "  re- 
possession of  his  just  liberty  and  freedom,  or  else 
that  he  may  undergo  the  penalty  prescribed  by  the 
law  if  he  be  found  a  transgressor."  Whether 
Overton  was  supported  by  the  Commons  against  the 
Lords  does  not  appear,  but  within  three  years  the 
Lower  House  abolished  the  House  of  Peers. 

Here  is  yet  another  petition  from  a  better  known 
inmate  of  Newgate,  the  obstinately  independent 
Colonel  Lilbume,  commonly  called  "  Freeborn 
John."  Lilburne  was  always  at  loggerheads  with 
the  government  of  the  city.  In  1637,  when  fol- 
lowing the  trade  of  a  bookseller,  he  was  convicted 
by  the  Star  Chamber  for  publishing  seditious  libels, 
and  sentenced  to  the  pillory,  imprisonment,  and  a 
fine  of  £5,000.    In  1645  he  fell  foul  of  the  Parlia- 


i\<v)wiAuJL   JT^wO   U-^iJiJi-J- 


-  iff-'-w-.-r,  ;■    cl'  >:    ^^^rt- 


Sessions  House,  Clerkenwell  Green,  London 


,v  iien 


■^'^  »1 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY        85 

ment,  and  wrote  a  new  treatise,  calling  in  question 
their  power.  Lilburne  was  eventually  banished  by 
the  Rump  Parliament;  but  in  1653  he  returned  to 
England  and  threw  himself  upon  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  Protector.  Cromwell  would  do  nothing,  and 
left  him  to  the  law.  Lilburne  was  then  arrested, 
and  committed  to  Newgate.  At  the  next  sessions 
he  was  arraigned,  but  refused  to  plead  unless  fur- 
nished with  a  copy  of  his  indictment.  He  managed 
to  put  off  his  trial  by  various  expedients  till  the  next 
sessions,  when  he  was  acquitted  by  the  jur3^  In 
Thurloe's  State  Papers  it  is  stated  that  "  John  Lil- 
burne was  five  times  at  his  trial  at  the  Sessions 
House,  where  he  most  courageously  defended  him- 
self from  the  recorder's  violent  assaults  with  his  old 
buckler,  the  Magna  Charta,  so  that  they  have  let 
him  alone."  "  Freeborn  John  "  was  so  popular  with 
malcontents  of  all  shades  of  opinion,  that  the  au- 
thorities, from  Oliver  Cromwell  downward,  were 
really  afraid  of  him.  Oliver  professed  to  be  en- 
raged against  him,  and  anxious  for  his  punishment, 
yet  he  privately  paid  him  a  pension  equal  to  the 
pay  of  a  lieutenant-colonel,  and,  as  Thurloe  says, 
"  thought  the  fellow  so  considerable,  that  during 
the  time  of  his  trial  he  kept  three  regiments  con- 
tinually under  arms  at  St.  James'."  The  jury 
which  acquitted  Lilburne  were  summoned  to  an- 
swer for  their  conduct  before  the  Council  of  State. 
Yet  there  is  little  doubt  that  the  court  was  overawed 
by  the  mob.     For  Thurloe  says  there  were  six  or 


86  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

seven  hundred  men  at  the  trial,  with  swords,  pistols, 
bills,  daggers,  and  other  instruments,  that,  in  case 
they  had  not  cleared  him,  they  would  have  em- 
ployed in  his  defence.  The  joy  and  acclamation 
were  so  great  after  he  was  acquitted  that  the  shout 
was  heard  an  English  mile. 

All  this  time  prisoners  of  great  mark  were  at 
times  confined  in  Newgate.  That  noted  royalist, 
Judge  Jenkins,  was  among  the  number.  His  crime 
was  publishing  seditious  books,  and  sentencing  to 
death  people  who  had  assisted  against  the  Parlia- 
ment. He  was  indeed  attainted  of  high  treason 
under  an  ordinance  passed  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. A  committee  was  sent  from  *'  the  Commons' 
House  to  Newgate,  which  was  to  interview  Judge 
Jenkins,  and  make  the  following  offer  to  him  — 
viz.,  that  if  he  would  own  the  power  of  the  Parlia- 
ment to  be  lawful,  they  would  not  only  take  off  the 
sequestrations  from  his  estates,  amounting  to  £500 
per  annum,  but  they  would  also  settle  a  pension  on 
him  of  fi,ooo  a  year."  His  reply  was  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect :  "  Far  be  it  from  me  to  own  re- 
bellion, although  it  was  lawful  and  successful." 
As  the  judge  refused  to  come  to  terms  with  them, 
he  remained  in  Newgate  till  the  Restoration. 

People  of  still  higher  rank  found  themselves  in 
gaol.  The  brother  of  the  "  Portugal "  ambas- 
sador, Don  Pantaleon  Sa,  is  sent,  with  others,  to 
Newgate  for  a  murder  committed  by  them  near 
the   Exchange.      It   was  a   bad  case.     They   had 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY        87 

quarrelled  with  an  English  officer,  Gerard,  who, 
hearing  the  Portuguese  discoursing  in  French  upon 
English  affairs,  told  them  they  did  not  represent 
certain  passages  aright.  "  One  of  the  foreigners 
gave  him  the  lie,  and  all  three  fell  upon  him,  and 
stabbed  him  with  a  dagger;  but  Colonel  Gerard 
being  rescued  out  of  their  hands  by  one  Mr.  An- 
thuser,  they  retired  home,  and  within  one  hour  re- 
turned with  twenty  more,  armed  with  breastplate 
and  head-pieces;  but  after  two  or  three  turns,  not 
finding  Mr.  Anthuser,  they  returned  home  that 
night."  Next  day  the  Portuguese  fell  upon  a 
Colonel  Mayo,  mistaking  him  for  Anthuser, 
wounded  him  dangerously,  and  killed  another  per- 
son, Mr.  Greenaway.  The  murderers  were  arrested 
in  spite  of  the  protection  afforded  them  by  the 
Portuguese  ambassador  and  committed  to  Newgate. 
Don  Pantaleon  made  his  escape  from  prison  a  few 
days  later,  but  he  was  retaken.  Strenuous  efforts 
were  then  made  to  obtain  his  release.  His  trial  was 
postponed  on  the  petition  of  the  Portuguese  mer- 
chants. The  Portuguese  ambassador  himself  had 
an  audience  of  Cromwell,  the  Lord  Protector.  But 
the  law  took  its  course.  Don  Pantaleon  pleaded  his 
relationship,  and  that  he  had  a  commission  to  act  as 
ambassador  in  his  brother's  absence;  this  was  dis- 
allowed, and  after  much  argument  the  prisoners 
pleaded  guilty,  and  desired  "to  be  tried  by  God 
and  the  country."  A  jury  was  called,  half  denizens, 
half  aliens,  six  of  each,  who,  after  a  full  hearing, 


88  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

found  the  ambassador's  brother  and  four  others 
guilty  of  murder  and  felony.  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Rolles  then  sentenced  them  to  be  hanged,  and  fixed 
the  day  of  execution;  but  by  the  desire  of  the 
prisoners  it  was  respited  two  days.  This  was  the 
6th  July,  1654.  On  the  8th,  Don  Pantaleon  Sa 
had  his  sentence  commuted  to  beheading.  On  the 
loth  he  tried  to  escape,  without  success,  and  on  the 
same  day  he  was  conveyed  from  Newgate  to  Tower 
Hill  in  a  coach  and  six  horses  in  mourning,  with 
divers  of  his  brother's  retinue  with  him.  There  he 
laid  his  head  on  the  block,  and  it  was  chopped  off  at 
two  blows.  The  rest,  although  condemned,  were 
all  reprieved,  except  one,  an  English  boy  concerned 
in  the  murder,  who  was  hanged  at  Tyburn.  Their 
first  victim,  Colonel  Gerard,  survived  only  to  be 
executed  on  Tower  Hill  the  same  year  for  conspir- 
ing to  murder  the  I^rd  Protector. 

Other  distinguished  inmates,  a  few  years  later, 
were  Charles  Lord  Buckhurst,  Edward  Sackville, 
and  Sir  Henry  Bellayse,  K.  B.,  who,  being  prisoners 
in  Newgate,  petitioned  the  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
March  loth,  to  be  admitted  to  bail,  one  of  them 
being  ill  of  the  smallpox.  They  were  charged 
seemingly  with  murder.  Their  petition  sets  forth 
that  while  returning  from  Waltham  to  London,  on 
the  8th  February,  they  aided  some  persons,  who 
complained  that  they  had  been  robbed  and  wounded 
in  pursuit  of  the  thieves,  and  in  attacking  the  rob- 
bers   wounded     one    who    afterward    died.       Sir 


THE    SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY         89 

Thomas  Towris,  baronet,  petitions  the  king 
(Charles  II)  "not  to  suffer  him  to  He  in  that 
infamous  place,  where  he  has  not  an  hour  of  health, 
nor  the  necessaries  of  life.  He  states  that  he  has 
been  four  months  in  the  Tower,  and  five  weeks  in 
Newgate,  charged  with  counterfeiting  his  Majesty's 
hand,  by  the  malice  of  an  infamous  person  who, 
when  Registrar  Accountant  at  Worcester  House, 
sold  false  debentures."  Sir  Thomas  wished  to  lay 
his  case  before  his  Majesty  at  his  first  coming  from 
Oxford,  but  was  deceived,  and  the  way  to  bounty 
was  thus  stopped. 


CHAPTER  IV 

NEWGATE  AFTER  THE  GREAT  FIRE 

Newgate  ref rented  in  1638  —  Destroyed  in  great  fire  of  1666 

—  Suicides  frequent  —  The  gaoler  Fells  indicted  for  per- 
mitting escapes  —  Crimes  of  the  period  —  Clipping  and 
coining  greatly  increased  —  Enormous  profits  of  the  fraud 

—  Coining  within  the  gaol  itself  deemed  high  treason  — 
Heavy  penalties  —  Highway  robbery  very  prevalent  — 
Instances  —  Officers  and  paymasters  with  the  king's  gold 
robbed  —  Stage-coaches  stopped  —  Whitney — His  capture, 
and  attempts  to  escape  —  His  execution  —  Efforts  to  check 
highway  robbery  —  A   few  types  of  notorious  highwaymen 

—  "Mulled  Sack"  —  Claude  Duval  —  Nevison  —  Abduction 
of  heiresses — ^  Mrs.  Synderfin  —  Miss  Rawlins  —  Miss 
Wharton  —  Count  Konigsmark  —  The  "  German  Princess  " 

—  Other  criminal  names  —  Titus  Oates  —  Dangerfield  — 
The  Fifth  Monarchy  men  —  William  Penn  —  The  two 
bishops,  Ellis  and  Leybum. 

Newgate  was  ref  rented  and  re  faced  in  1638, 
but  no  further  change  or  improvement  was  made 
in  the  building  until  a  total  reedification  became 
inevitable,  after  the  great  fire  in  1666. 

It  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  horrors  of  New- 
gate, the  mismanagement,  tyranny,  and  lax  disci- 
pline which  prevailed  at  that  time.  Its  unsanitary 
condition  was  chronic,  which  at  times,  but  only  for 
influential  inmates,   was  pleaded  as  an  excuse  for 

90 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  91 

release.  Luttrell  tells  us  Lord  Montgomery,  a 
prisoner  there  in  1697,  was  brought  out  of  Newgate 
to  the  King's  Bench  Court,  there  to  be  bailed,  upon 
two  affidavits,  which  showed  that  there  was  an 
infectious  fever  in  Newgate,  of  which  several 
were  sick  and  some  dead.  He  was  accordingly 
admitted  to  bail  himself  in  £10,000,  and  four 
sureties  —  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Earl  of  Yar- 
mouth, Lord  Carrington,  and  Lord  Jeffereys  —  in 
£5,000  each.  An  effort  to  secure  release  was  made 
less  successfully  some  years  later  in  regard  to 
Jacobite  prisoners  of  note,  although  the  grounds 
alleged  were  the  same  and  equally  valid.  Some 
effort  was  made  to  classify  the  prisoners:  there 
was  the  master's  side,  for  debtors  and  felons 
respectively;  the  common  side,  for  the  same  two 
classes ;  and  the  press-yard,  for  prisoners  of  note. 

If  a  prisoner  was  hopelessly  despondent,  he  could 
generally  compass  the  means  of  committing  suicide. 
A  Mr.  Norton,  natural  son  of  Sir  George  Norton, 
condemned  for  killing  a  dancing-master,  because 
the  latter  would  not  suffer  him  to  take  his  wife 
away  from  him  in  the  street,  poisoned  himself  the 
night  before  his  reprieve  expired.  The  drug  was 
conveyed  to  him  by  his  aunt  without  difficulty, 
"  who  participated  in  the  same  dose,  but  she  is 
likely  to  recover."  Nor  were  prisoners  driven  to 
this  last  desperate  extremity  to  escape  from  durance. 
Pepys  tells  us  in  1667,  August  i,  that  the  gates  of 
the  city  were  shut,  "  and  at  Newgate  we  find  them 


92  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

in  trouble,  some  thieves  having  this  night  broken 
open  prison." 

Within  the  gaol  all  manner  of  evil  communica- 
tion went  forward  unchecked  among  the  prisoners. 
That  same  year  Sir  Richard  Ford,  the  recorder, 
states  that  it  has  been  made  appear  to  the  court 
of  aldermen  "  that  the  keeper  of  Newgate  hath  at 
this  day  made  his  house  the  only  nursery  of  rogues, 
prostitutes,  pickpockets,  and  thieves  in  the  world, 
where  they  were  held  and  entertained  and  the  whole 
society  met,  and  that  for  the  sake  of  the  sheriffs  ^ 
they  durst  not  this  day  commit  him  for  fear  of 
making  him  let  out  the  prisoners,  but  are  fain  to  go 
by  artifice  to  deal  with  him."  The  keeper  at  this 
time  was  one  Walter  Cowday,  as  appears  from  a 
State  pardon  "  for  seven  prisoners  ordered  to  be 
transported  by  their  own  consent,"  which  he 
endorses.  Sharper  measure  was  dealt  out  to  his 
successor,  Mr.  Fells,  the  keeper  in  1696,  who  was 
summoned  to  appear  before  the  Lords  Justices  for 
conniving  at  the  escape  of  Birkenhead,  alias  Fish, 
alias  South,  East,  West,  etc.,  one  of  the  conspira- 
tors in  Sir  John  Fenwick's  business,  and  who  lay  in 
prison  "  to  be  speedily  tried."  On  examination  of 
Fells,  it  was  stated  that  Birkenhead's  escape  had 
been  effected  by  a  bribe,  whereupon  the  sheriffs 
were  instructed  to  find  out  the  truth  in  order  to 
displace  Fells.    Fells  was  furthermore  charged  with 

'  Who  were  responsible  for  the  keeper  and  the  prison  gen- 
erally. 


AFTER   THE   GREAT   FIRE 


93 


showing  favour  to  Sir  John  Fenwick  by  suffering 
him  to  have  pens,  ink,  and  paper  "  alone;  "  a  Httle 
later  he  was  convicted  on  two  indictments  before 
Lord  Chief  Justice  Holt  at  Guildhall,  viz.,  for  the 
escape  of  Birkenhead  already  mentioned,  and  of 
another  prisoner  imprisoned  for  non-payment  of 
fine.  Fell's  sentence  was  postponed  till  the  next 
term  at  the  King's  Bench  Bar;  but  he  moved  the 
court  in  arrest  of  judgment,  a  motion  which  the 
King's  Bench  took  time  to  consider,  but  which 
must  have  been  ultimately  decided  in  his  favour,  as 
two  years  later  Fells  still  held  the  office  of  gaoler 
of  Newgate. 

The  crimes  of  the  latter  half  of  the  seventeenth 
century  are  of  the  same  character  as  those  of 
previous  epochs.  Many  had,  however,  developed 
in  degree,  and  were  more  widely  practised.  The 
offence  of  clipping  and  coining  had  greatly  in- 
creased. The  extent  to  which  it  was  carried  seems 
almost  astounding.  The  culprits  were  often  of 
high  standing.  A  clipper,  by  name  White,  under 
sentence  of  death,  was  reprieved  by  the  king  upon 
the  petition  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  order  that 
a  committee  of  the  House  might  examine  him  in 
Newgate  as  to  his  accomplices  and  their  pro- 
ceedings. Accordingly,  White  made  "  a  large  dis- 
covery "  to  the  committee,  both  of  clippers  and 
coiners,  and  particularly  of  Esquire  Strode,  who 
had  been  a  witness  at  the  trial  of  the  Earl  of  Bath 
(1697).    Luttrell  says,  among  twenty  persons  con- 


94 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


victed  of  coining  was  Atkinson,  the  beau  who  made 
such  a  figure  in  town  about  eight  years  before,  and 
spent  an  estate  of  £500  per  annum  in  Yorkshire.  In 
the  lodgings  of  a  parson,  by  name  Salisbury,  who 
was  arrested  for  counterfeiting  stamped  paper,  sev- 
eral instruments  for  clipping  and  coining  were 
found.  University  men  were  beguiled  into  the 
crime  of  clipping;  so  were  seemingly  respectable 
London  tradesmen.  Goldsmiths  and  refiners  were 
repeatedly  taken  up  for  these  malpractices.  A  gold- 
smith in  Leicester  Fields  and  his  servants  are  com- 
mitted to  Newgate  for  receiving  large  quantities  of 
bfoad  money  from  Exeter  to  clip  it.  A  refiner's 
wife  and  two  servants  were  committed  to  Newgate 
for  clipping;  the  husband  escaped.  Bird,  a  lace- 
man,  in  custody  for  coining,  escaped;  but  sur- 
rendered and  impeached  others.  Certain  gilders 
committed  to  Newgate  petitioned  therefrom,  that 
if  released  they  would  merit  the  same  by  a  discovery 
of  a  hundred  persons  concerned  in  the  trade. 

The  numbers  engaged  in  these  nefarious  prac- 
tices were  very  great.  In  1692,  information  was 
given  of  three  hundred  coiners  and  clippers  dis- 
persed in  various  parts  of  the  city,  for  several 
of  whom  warrants  were  issued,  some  by  the 
Treasury,  others  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice.  The 
profits  were  enormous.  Of  three  clippers  executed 
at  Tyburn  in  1696,  one,  John  Moore,  "  the  tripe- 
man,"  was  said  to  have  got  a  good  estate  by  clip- 
ping, and  to  have  offered  £6,000  for  his  pardon. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  95 

Three  other  clippers  arrested  in  St.  James's  St.,  and 
committed  to  Newgate,  were  found  to  be  in  posses- 
sion of  £400  in  cHppings,  with  a  pair  of  shears 
and  other  implements.  The  information  of  one 
Gregory,  a  butcher,  who  "  discovered  "  near  a  hun- 
dred persons  concerned  in  the  trade,  went  to  prove 
that  they  made  as  much  as  £6,000  a  month  in 
counterfeit  money.  "  All  their  utensils  and  moulds 
were  shown  in  court,  the  latter  being  in  very  fine 
clay,  which  performed  with  great  dexterity."  The 
extent  of  the  practice  is  shown  by  the  ingenuity 
of  the  machinery  used.  "  All  sorts  of  material  for 
coining  was  found  in  a  house  in  Kentish  town,  with 
stamps  for  all  coins  from  James  I."  The  work  was 
performed  "  with  that  exactness  no  banker  could 
detect  the  counterfeit."  So  bold  were  the  coiners, 
that  the  manufacture  went  forward  even  within  the 
walls  of  Newgate.  Three  prisoners  were  taken  in 
the  very  act  of  coining  in  that  prison.  One  of  the 
medals  or  tokens  struck  in  Newgate  as  a  monetary 
medium  among  the  prisoners  is  still  to  be  seen  in 
the  Beaufoy  Collection  at  Guildhall.  Upon  the 
obverse  of  the  coin  the  legend  is  inscribed :  "  Be- 
longing to  the  cellar  on  the  master's  side,  1669;" 
on  the  reverse  side  is  a  view  of  Newgate  and  the 
debtors'  prison. 

The  heaviest  penalties  did  not  check  this  crime. 
The  offence  was  high  treason;  men  sentenced  for 
it  were  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered,  and  women 
were  burnt.     In   1683   Elizabeth  Hare  was  burnt 


96  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

alive  for  coining  in  Bunhill  Fields.  Special  legis- 
lation could  not  cope  with  this  crime,  and  to  hinder 
it  the  Lx)rds  of  the  Treasury  petitioned  Queen  Mary 
(in  the  absence  of  William  III)  to  grant  no  pardon 
to  any  sentenced  for  clipping  unless  before  their 
conviction  they  discovered  their  accomplices. 

Highway  robbery  had  greatly  increased.  The 
roads  were  infested  with  banditti.  Innkeepers  har 
boured  and  assisted  the  highwaymen,  sympathi- 
zing with  them,  and  frequently  sharing  in  the 
plunder.  None  of  the  great  roads  were  safe:  the 
mails,  high  officials,  foreigners  of  distinction, 
noblemen,  merchants,  all  alike  were  stopped  and 
laid  under  contribution.  The  following  are  a  few 
of  the  cases  which  were  of  constant  occurrence. 
"  His  Majesty's  mails  from  Holland  robbed  near 
Ilford  in  Essex,  and  £5,000  taken,  belonging  to 
some  Jews  in  London."  "  The  Worcester  wagon, 
wherein  was  £4,000  of  the  king's  money,  was  set 
upon  and  robbed  at  Gerard's  Cross,  near  Uxbridge, 
by  sixteen  highwaymen.  The  convoy,  being  near 
their  inn,  went  on  ahead,  thinking  all  secure,  and 
leaving  only  two  persons  on  foot  to  guard  it,  who, 
having  laid  their  blunderbusses  in  the  wagon,  were 
on  a  sudden  surprised  by  the  sixteen  highwaymen, 
who  took  away  £2,500,  and  left  the  rest  for  want 
of  conveniences  to  carry  it."  Two  French  officers 
(on  their  way  to  the  coast)  were  robbed  by  nine 
highwaymen  of  one  hundred  and  ten  guineas,  and 
bidden  to  go  home  to  their  own  country.     Another 


AFTER   THE   GREAT   FIRE  97 

batch  of  French  officers  was  similarly  dealt  with  on 
the  Portsmouth  road.  Fifteen  butchers  going  to 
market  were  robbed  by  highwaymen,  who  carried 
them  over  a  hedge  and  made  them  drink  King 
James's  health.  The  Portsmouth  mail  was  robbed, 
but  only  of  private  letters ;  but  the  same  men  robbed 
a  captain  going  to  Portsmouth  with  £5,000  to  pay 
his  regiment  with.  Three  highwaymen  robbed  the 
Receiver-General  of  Bucks  of  a  thousand  guineas, 
which  he  was  sending  up  by  the  carrier  in  a  pack; 
the  thieves  acted  on  excellent  information,  for  al- 
though there  were  seventeen  pack-horses,  they  went 
directly  to  that  which  was  laden  with  the  gold. 
Seven  on  the  St.  Alban's  road  near  Pinner  robbed 
the  Manchester  carrier  of  £15,000  king's  money, 
and  killed  and  wounded  eighteen  horses  to  prevent 
pursuit.  The  purser  of  a  ship  landed  at  Plymouth 
and  rode  to  London  on  horseback,  with  £6,000 
worth  of  rough  diamonds  belonging  to  some  Lon- 
don merchants  which  had  been  saved  out  of  a  ship- 
wreck. Crossing  Hounslow  Heath,  the  purser  was 
robbed  by  highwaymen.  "  Oath  was  thereupon 
made  before  a  justice  of  the  peace,"  says  Luttrell, 
in  "  order  to  sue  the  Hundred  for  the  same."  The 
Bath  coach  was  stopped  in  Maidenhead  thicket, 
and  a  footman  who  had  fired  at  them  was  shot 
through  the  head.  The  Dover  stage-coach,  with 
foreign  passengers,  was  robbed  near  Shooter's  Hill, 
but  making  resistance,  one  was  killed. 

The    western    mail    was    robbed    by    the    two 


98  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Arthurs,  who  were  captured  and  committed  to 
Newgate.  They  soon  escaped  therefrom,  but  were 
again  arrested  at  a  tavern  by  Doctors'  Commons, 
being  betrayed  by  a  companion.  They  confessed 
that  they  had  gone  pubhcly  about  the  streets  dis- 
guised in  Grecian  habits,  and  that  one  Ehis,  a 
tobacconist,  assisted  them  in  their  escape,  for  which 
he  was  himself  committed  to  Newgate.  John 
Arthur  was  soon  afterwards  condemned  and  ex- 
ecuted. Henry  Arthur  was  acquitted,  but  soon  after 
quarrelhng  about  a  tavern  bill  in  Covent  Garden, 
he  was  killed  in  the  melee. 

All  manner  of  men  took  to  the  road.  Some  of 
the  royal  guards  were  apprehended  for  robbing  on 
the  highway.  Lifeguardsmen  followed  the  same 
gentlemanly  occupation  when  ofif  duty.  Thompson, 
a  lifeguardsman,  committed  on  suspicion  of  robbing 
Welsh  drovers,  was  refused  bail,  there  being  fresh 
evidence  against  him.  Captain  Beau,  or  Bew,  for- 
merly of  the  Guards,  was  seized  at  Knightsbridge 
as  a  highwayman,  and  afterwards  poisoned  himself. 
Seven  of  his  gang  were  committed  to  Newgate. 
Harris,  the  lifeguardsman  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey 
for  robbing  "  on  the  black  mare "  and  acquitted, 
was  again  tried  a  month  later,  and  condemned.  He 
was  then  reprieved,  and  Sir  William  Penn  obtained 
the  queen's  pardon  for  him,  with  a  commission  as 
lieutenant  in  the  Pennsylvania  militia,  to  which 
colony  he  was  to  transport  himself.  Persons  of 
good   social  status  engaged  in  the  perilous  trade. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE 


99 


One  Smith,  a  parson  and  a  lecturer  at  Chelsea, 
when  brought  up  at  Westminister  for  perjury,  was 
found  to  be  a  confederate  with  two  highwaymen, 
with  whom  they  had  shared  a  gold  watch,  and 
planned  to  rob  Chelsea  Church  of  its  plate.  Smith 
when  arraigned  appeared  in  court  in  his  gown,  but 
he  was  "  sent  to  Newgate,  and  is  like  to  be  hanged." 
Disguised  highwaymen  were  often  detected  in 
reputable  citizens  and  quiet  tradesmen,  who  upon 
the  surface  seemed  honest  folk.  A  mercer  of  Lom- 
bard Street  was  taken  out  of  his  bed  and  charged  by 
a  chesemonger  as  being  the  man  that  i"obbed  him 
two  years  previously.  Another  mercer  was  taken 
up  near  Ludgate  on  suspicion  of  being  a  highway- 
man, and  committed.  Saunders,  a  butcher  of  St. 
James's  market,  was  charged  with  robbing  the 
Hampton  coach,  and  discovered  three  confederates, 
who  were  captured  on  Sunday  at  Westminster 
Abbey.  "Of  two  highwaymen  taken  near  High- 
gate,  one  was  said  to  be  a  broken  mercer,  the  other 
a  fishmonger."  Two  of  Whitney *s  gang  were 
said  to  be  the  tradesmen  in  the  Strand  —  one  a  gold- 
smith and  one  a  milliner. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  cool  impudence  with 
which  reputed  robbers  showed  themselves  in  public 
places.  They  did  not  always  escape  capture,  how- 
ever. "  A  noted  highwayman  in  a  scarlet  cloak," 
says  Luttrell,  "  and  coat  laced  with  gold  taken 
in  Covent  Garden."  Another  was  taken  in  the 
Strand   and   sent   to   Newgate.      Five   more   were 


loo         CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

captured  at  the  Rummer,  Charing  Cross;  three 
others,  notorious  highwaymen,  taken  at  tb.e 
"  Cheshire  Cheeze."  At  times  they  fought  hard 
for  hberty.  "  One  Wake,  a  highwayman,  pursued 
to  Red  Lion  Fields,  set  his  back  against  the  wall 
and  faced  the  constables  and  mob.  He  shot  the 
former,  and  wounded  others,  but  was  at  last  taken 
and  sent  to  Newgate."  Whitney,  the  famous  high- 
wayman, was  taken  without  Bishopsgate,  being 
"  discovered  by  one  Hill,  as  he  (Whitney)  walked 
the  street.  Hill  observed  where  the  robber 
'  housed,'  and  calling  for  assistance,  went  to  the 
door."  Whitney  defended  himself  for  about  an 
hour,  but  the  people  increasing,  and  the  officers  of 
Newgate  being  sent  for,  he  surrendered  himself, 
but  not  before  he  had  stabbed  Hill  with  a  bayonet, 
"  not  mortal."  He  w^as  handcuffed  and  shackled 
with  irons,  and  committed  to  Newgate. 

Whitney  had  done  business  on  a  large  scale.  He 
had  been  arrested  before  by  a  party  of  horse 
despatched  by  William  HI,  which  had  come  up 
with  him  lurking  between  St.  Alban's  and  Barnet. 
He  was  attacked,  but  made  a  stout  defence,  killing 
some  and  wounding  others  before  he  was  secured. 
He  must  have  got  free  again  very  soon  afterwards. 
His  second  arrest,  which  has  just  been  detailed, 
was  followed  by  that  of  many  others  of  his  gang. 
Three  were  seized  near  Chelsea  College  by  some 
soldiers;  two  more  were  in  company,  but  escaped. 
On  Sunday  two  others  were  taken  ;  one  kept  a  livery 


AFTER   THE    GREAT   FIRE  loi 

stable  at  Moorfield's.  Soon  after  his  committal 
there  was  a  strong  rumour  that  he  had  escaped 
from  Newgate,  but  he  continued  closely  confined 
there,  and  had  forty  pounds  weight  of  irons  on  his 
legs.  He  had  his  tailor  make  him  a  rich  em- 
broidered suit  with  peruke  and  hat,  worth  £ioo; 
but  the  keeper  refused  to  let  him  wear  them,  be- 
cause they  would  disguise  him. 

Whitney  made  many  attempts  to  purchase  pardon. 
He  offered  to  discover  his  associates,  and  those  that 
give  notice  when  and  where  the  money  is  conveyed 
on  the  roads  in  coaches  and  wagons.  He  was, 
however,  put  upon  his  trial,  and  eventually  con- 
victed and  sentenced  to  death.  He  went  in  the  cart 
to  the  place  of  execution,  but  was  reprieved  and 
brought  back  to  Newgate  with  a  rope  round  his 
neck,  followed  by  a  "  vast  "  crowd.  Next  night 
he  was  carried  to  Whitehall  and  examined  as  to  the 
persons  who  hired  the  highwaymen  to  rob  the  mails. 
But  he  was  again  ordered  for  execution,  and  once 
more  sought  to  gain  a  reprieve  by  writing  a  letter  in 
which  he  offered,  if  he  might  have  his  pardon,  to 
betray  a  conspiracy  to  kill  the  king.  His  last  appeal 
was  refused,  and  he  suffered  at  Porter's  Block,  near 
Cow  Cross,  Smithfield. 

Determined  efforts  were  made  from  time  to  time 
to  put  down  these  robberies,  which  were  often 
so  disgracefully  prevalent  that  people  hardly  dared 
to  travel  along  the  roads.  Parties  of  horse  were 
quartered   in  most   of  the  towns  along  the  great 


I02  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

highways.  Handsome  rewards  were  offered  for 
the  apprehension  of  offenders.  A  proclamation 
promised  £io  for  every  highwayman  taken,  and 
this  was  ere  long  increased  to  £40,  to  be  given  to 
any  one  who  might  supply  information  leading  to 
an  arrest.  Horses  standing  at  livery  in  and  about 
London,  whose  ownership  was  at  all  doubtful,  were 
seized  on  suspicion,  and  often  never  claimed.  It 
was  customary  to  parade  before  Newgate  persons 
in  custody  who  were  thought  to  be  highwaymen. 
They  were  shown  in  their  riding-dresses  with  their 
horses,  and  all  gentlemen  who  had  been  robbed 
were  invited  to  inspect  this  singular  exhibition. 
But  the  robberies  flourished  in  spite  of  all  attempts 
at  repression. 

One  or  two  types  of  the  highwaymen  of  the 
seventeenth  century  may  here  be  fitly  introduced. 
One  of  the  earliest  and  most  celebrated  was  Jack 
Cottington,  alias  "  Mulled  Sack,"  who  had  been  a 
depredator  throughout  the  Commonwealth  epoch, 
and  who  enjoyed  the  credit  of  having  robbed  Oliver 
Cromwell  himself  on  Hounslow  Heath.  His  con- 
federate in  this,  Home,  once  a  captain  in  Downe's 
foot  regiment,  was  overtaken,  captured,  and 
hanged,  but  Cottington  escaped.  Jack  Cottington 
began  as  a  chimney-sweep,  first  as  an  apprentice, 
then  on  his  own  account,  when  he  gained  his 
soubriquet  from  his  powers  of  drinking  mulled  sack. 
From  this  he  graduated,  and  soon  gained  a  high 
reputation  as  a  pickpocket,  his  chief  hunting-ground 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  103 

being  churches  and  Puritan  meeting-houses,  which 
he  frequented  demurely  dressed  in  black  with  a  black 
roquelaire.  He  succeeded  in  robbing  Lady  Fairfax 
of  a  gold  watch  set  with  diamonds,  and  a  gold 
chain,  as  she  was  on  her  way  to  Doctor  Jacomb's 
lecture  at  Ludgate;  and  a  second  time  by  removing 
the  linchpin  from  her  ladyship's  carriage  when  on 
her  way  to  the  same  church,  he  upset  the  coach,  and 
giving  her  his  arm,  relieved  her  of  another  gold 
watch  and  seals.  After  this  he  became  the  captain 
of  a  gang  of  thieves  and  night  prowlers,  whom  he 
organized  and  led  to  so  much  purpose  that  they 
alarmed  the  whole  town.  His  impudence  was  so 
great  that  he  was  always  ready  to  show  off  his 
skill  as  a  thief  in  any  public-house  if  he  was  paid  for 
it,  in  a  performance  he  styled  "  moving  the  bung." 
He  was  not  content  to  operate  in  the  city,  but  visited 
the  Parliament  House  and  Courts  of  Law  at  West- 
minster, and  was  actually  caught  in  the  act  of 
picking  the  Protector's  pocket.  He  narrowly  es- 
caped hanging  for  this,  and  on  coming  out  of 
gaol  took  permanently  to  the  highway,  where  he 
soon  achieved  a  still  greater  notoriety.  With  half 
a  dozen  comrades  he  robbed  a  government  wagon 
conveying  money  to  the  army,  and  dispersed  the 
twenty  troopers  who  escorted  it,  by  attacking  them 
as  they  were  watering  their  horses.  The  wagon 
contained  £4,000,  intended  to  pay  the  troops 
quartered  at  Oxford  and  Gloucester.  Another  ac- 
count states  that  near  Wheatley,  Cottington  put  a 


I04  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

pistol  to  the  carrier's  head  and  bade  him  stand,  at 
which  both  carter  and  guard  rode  off  for  their 
lives,  fearing  an  ambuscade.  The  town  of  Reading 
he  laid  under  frequent  contribution,  breaking  into 
a  jeweller's  shop  in  that  town  and  carrying  off  the 
contents,  which  he  sported  on  his  person  in  London. 
Again  at  Reading,  hearing  that  the  Receiver-Gen- 
eral was  about  to  send  £6,000  to  London  in  an 
ammunition  wagon,  he  entered  the  receiver's  house, 
bound  the  family,  and  decamped  with  the  money. 
Being  by  this  time  so  notorious  a  character,  he  was 
arrested  on  suspicion,  and  committed  for  trial  at 
Abingdon  Assizes.  There,  however,  being  flush 
of  cash,  he  found  means  to  corrupt  the  jury  and 
secure  acquittal,  although  Judge  Jermyn  exerted  all 
his  skill  to  hang  him.  His  fame  was  now  at  its 
zenith.  He  became  the  burthen  of  street  songs  — 
a  criminal  hero  who  laughed  the  gallows  to  scorn. 
But  about  this  time  he  was  compelled  to  fly  the 
country  for  the  murder  of  Sir  John  Bridges,  with 
whose  wife  he  had  had  an  intrigue.  He  made  his 
way  to  Cologne,  to  the  court  of  Charles  H,  whom 
he  robbed  of  plate  worth  £1,500.  Then  he  returned 
to  England,  after  making  overtures  to  Cromwell, 
to  whom  he  offered  certain  secret  papers  if  he 
might  be  allowed  to  go  scot-free.  But  he  was 
brought  to  the  gallows,  and  fully  deserved  his  fate. 
Claude  Duval  is  another  hero  whose  name  is 
familiar  to  all  readers  of  criminal  chronology.  A 
certain  halo  of  romance  surrounds  this  notorious 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE 


105 


and  most  successful  highwayman.  Gallant  and 
chivalrous  in  his  bearing  towards  the  fair  sex,  he 
would  spare  a  victim's  pocket  for  the  pleasure 
of  dancing  a  corranto  with  the  gentleman's 
wife.  The  money  he  levied  so  recklessly  he  lavished 
as  freely  in  intrigue.  His  success  with  the  sex  is 
said  to  have  been  extraordinary,  both  in  London 
and  in  Paris.  "  Maids,  widows,  and  wives,"  says 
a  contemporary  account,  "  the  rich,  the  poor,  the 
noble,  the  vulgar,  all  submitted  to  the  powerful 
Duval."  When  justice  at  length  overtook  him,  and 
he  was  cast  for  death,  crowds  of  ladies  visited  him 
in  the  condemned  hold;  many  more  in  masks  were 
present  at  his  execution.  After  hanging  he  lay  in 
state  in  the  Tangier  Tavern  at  St,  Giles,  in  a  room 
draped  with  black  and  covered  with  escutcheons; 
eight  wax  tapers  surrounded  his  bier,  and  "  as  many 
tall  gentlemen  in  long  cloaks."  Duval  was  a 
Frenchman  by  birth  —  a  native  of  Domf ront  in 
Normandy,  once  a  village  of  evil  reputation.  Its 
cure  was  greatly  surprised,  it  is  said,  at  finding  that 
he  baptized  as  many  as  a  hundred  children  and  yet 
buried  nobody.  At  first  he  congratulated  himself 
in  residing  in  an  air  producing  such  longevity;  but 
on  closer  inquiry  he  found  that  all  who  were  born 
at  Dom front  were  hanged  at  Rouen. 

Duval  did  not  long  honour  his  native  country 
with  his  presence.  On  the  restoration  of  Charles 
II  he  came  to  London  as  footman  to  a  person  of 
quality,   but   soon   took   to   the   road.      Numerous 


To6         CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

stories  are  told  of  his  boldness,  his  address,  and 
fertihty  of  resource.  One  of  the  most  amusing  is 
that  in  which  he  got  an  accompHce  to  dress  up  a 
mastiff  in  a  cow's  hide,  put  horns  on  his  head,  and 
let  him  down  a  chimney,  into  a  room  where  a 
bridal  merrymaking  was  in  progress.  Duval,  who 
was  one  of  the  guests,  dexterously  profited  by  the 
general  dismay  to  lighten  the  pockets  of  an  old 
farmer  whom  he  had  seen  secreting  a  hundred 
pounds.  When  the  money  was  missed  it  was  sup- 
posed that  the  devil  had  flown  away  with  it.  On 
another  occasion,  having  revisited  France,  he 
ingratiated  himself  with  a  wealthy  priest  by  pre- 
tending to  possess  the  secret  of  the  philosopher's 
stone.  This  he  effected  by  stirring  up  a  potful  of 
molten  inferior  metal  with  a  stick,  within  which 
were  enclosed  a  number  of  sprigs  of  pure  gold,  as 
black  lead  is  in  a  pencil.  When  the  baser  metals 
were  consumed  by  the  fire,  the  pure  gold  remained 
at  the  bottom  of  the  pot.  Overjoyed  at  Duval's 
skill  as  an  alchemist,  the  priest  made  him  his  con- 
fidant and  bosom  friend,  revealing  to  him  his  secret 
hoards,  and  where  they  were  bestowed.  One  day, 
when  the  priest  was  asleep  after  dinner,  Duval 
gagged  and  bound  him,  removed  his  keys,  unlocked 
his  strong  boxes,  and  went  off  with  all  the  valuables 
he  could  carry.  Duval  was  also  an  adroit  card- 
sharper,  and  won  considerable  sums  at  play  by 
"  slipping  a  card ;"  and  he  was  most  astute  in  lay- 
ing   and    winning    wagers    on    matters    he    had 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE 


107 


previously  fully  mastered.  His  career  was  abruptly 
terminated  by  his  capture  when  drunk  at  a  tavern 
in  Chandos  Street,  and  he  was  executed,  after  ten 
years  of  triumph,  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven. 
William  Nevison,  a  native-born  member  of  the 
same  fraternity,  may  be  called,  says  Raine,  "  the 
Claude  Duval  of  the  north.  The  chroniclers  of  his 
deeds  have  told  us  of  his  daring  and  his  charities, 
for  he  gave  away  to  the  poor  much  of  the  money 
he  took  from  the  rich."  Nevison  was  born  at  Ponte- 
fract  in  1639,  and  began  as  a  boy  by  stealing  his 
father's  spoons.  When  chastised  by  the  school- 
master for  this  offence,  he  bolted  with  his  master's 
horse,  having  first  robbed  his  father's  strong  box. 
After  spending  some  time  in  London  thieving,  he 
went  to  Flanders  and  served,  not  without  distinction, 
in  a  regiment  of  English  volunteers  commanded  by 
the  Duke  of  York,  He  returned  presently  to  Eng- 
land, and  took  to  the  road.  Stories  are  told  of  him 
similar  to  those  which  made  Duval  famous.  Nevi- 
son was  on  the  king's  side,  and  never  robbed 
Royalists.  He  was  especially  hard  on  usurers.  On 
one  occasion  he  eased  a  Jew  of  his  ready  money, 
then  made  him  sign  a  note  of  hand  for  five  hundred 
pounds,  which  by  hard  riding  he  cashed  before  the 
usurer  could  stop  payment.  Again,  he  robbed  a 
bailiff  who  had  just  distrained  a  poor  farmer  for 
rent.  The  proceeds  of  the  sale,  which  the  bailiff 
thus  lost,  Nevison  restored  to  the  farmer.  In  the 
midst  of  his  career,  having  made  one  grand  coup, 


io8  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

he  retired  from  business  and  spent  eight  years 
virtuously  with  his  father.  At  the  old  man's  death 
he  resumed  his  evil  courses,  and  was  presently 
arrested  and  thrown  into  Leicester  Gaol.  From 
this  he  escaped  by  a  clever  stratagem.  A  friendly 
doctor  having  declared  he  had  the  plague,  gave  him 
a  sleeping  draught,  and  saw  him  consigned  to  a 
coffin  as  dead.  His  friend  demanded  the  body,  and 
Nevison  passed  the  gates  in  the  coffin.  Once  out- 
side, he  was  speedily  restored  to  life,  and  now 
extended  his  operations  to  the  capital.  It  was  soon 
after  this  that  he  gained  the  soubriquet,  "  Swift 
Nick,"  given  by  Charles  II,  it  is  said.  There  seems 
to  be  very  little  doubt  that  Nevison  was  actually 
the  hero  of  the  great  ride  to  York,  commonly 
credited  to  Turpin.  The  story  goes  that  he  robbed 
a  gentleman  at  Gadshill,  then  riding  to  Gravesend, 
crossed  the  Thames,  and  galloped  across  Essex  to 
Chelmsford.  After  baiting  he  rode  on  to  Cam- 
bridge and  Godmanchester,  thence  to  Huntingdon, 
where  he  baited  his  mare  and  slept  for  an  hour; 
after  that,  holding  to  the  north  road,  and  not  gallop- 
ing his  horse  all  the  way,  reached  York  the  same 
afternoon.  Having  changed  his  clothes,  he  went 
to  the  bowling-green,  where  he  made  himself 
noticeable  to  the  lord  mayor.  By  and  by,  when 
recognized  and  charged  with  the  robbery  at  Gads- 
hill,  Nevison  called  upon  the  mayor  to  prove  that 
he  had  seen  him  at  York;  whereupon  he  was  ac- 
quitted, "  on  the  bare  supposition  that  it  was  im- 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  109 

possible  for  a  man  to  be  at  two  places  so  remote  on 
one  and  the  same  day." 

Nevison  appears  to  have  been  arrested  and  in 
custody  in  1676.  He  was  tried  for  his  life,  but 
reprieved  and  drafted  into  a  regiment  at  Tangier. 
He  soon  deserted,  and  returning  to  England,  again 
took  to  the  road.  He  was  next  captured  at  Wake- 
field, tried,  and  sentenced  to  death ;  but  escaped  from 
prison,  to  be  finally  taken  up  for  a  trifling  robbery, 
for  which  he  suffered  at  York.  The  depositions 
preserved  by  the  Surtees'  Society  show  that  he  was 
the  life  and  centre  of  a  gang  of  highway  robbers 
who  worked  in  association.  They  levied  blackmail 
upon  the  whole  countryside;  attended  fairs,  race 
meetings,  and  public  gatherings,  and  had  spies  and 
accomplices,  innkeepers  and  ostlers,  who  kept  them 
informed  of  the  movements  of  travellers,  and  put 
them  in  the  way  of  likely  jobs  to  be  done.  Drovers 
and  farmers  who  paid  a  tax  to  them  escaped  spolia- 
tion ;  but  all  others  were  very  roughly  handled. 
The  gang  had  its  headquarters  at  the  Talbot  Inn, 
Newark,  where  they  kept  a  room  by  the  year,  and 
met  at  regular  intervals  to  divide  the  proceeds  of 
their  robberies. 

Many  instances  are  recorded  of  another  crime 
somewhat  akin  to  highway  robbery.  The  forcible 
abduction  of  heiresses  was  nothing  new;  but  it 
was  now  prosecuted  with  more  impudence  and  dar- 
ing than  heretofore.  Luttrell  tells  us,  under  date 
1st  June,   1683,   that  one  Mrs.   Synderfin,   a  rich 


no  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

widow,  was  taken  out  of  her  carriage  on  Hounslow 
Heath,  by  a  Captain  CHfford  and  his  comrades. 
They  carried  her  into  France  to  "  Cahce  "  against 
her  will,  and  with  much  barbarous  ill-usage  made 
her  marry  Clifford.  Mrs.  Synderfin  or  Clifford 
was,  however,  rescued,  and  brought  back  to  Eng- 
land. Clifford  escaped,  but  presently  returning  to 
London,  was  seized  and  committed  to  custody.  He 
pleaded  in  defence  his  great  passion  for  the  lady, 
and  his  seeing  no  other  way  to  win  her.  It  was  not 
mere  fortune-hunting,  he  declared,  as  he  possessed 
a  better  estate  than  hers.  But  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
charged  the  jury  that  they  must  find  the  prisoners 
guilty,  which  they  did.  and  all  were  sentenced  to 
imprisonment  in  New^gate  for  one  year.  Captain 
Clifford  was  also  to  pay  a  fine  of  £i,ooo,  two  of 
his  confederates  £500  each,  and  two  more  £100. 
In  the  same  authority  is  an  account  how  —  "  Yes- 
terday a  gentleman  was  committed  to  Newgate  for 
stealing  a  young  lady  worth  £10,000,  by  the  help  of 
bailiffs,  who  arrested  her  and  her  maid  in  a  false 
action,  and  had  got  them  into  a  coach,  but  they 
were  rescued."  Again,  a  year  or  two  later,  "  one 
Swanson,  a  Dane,  who  pretends  to  be  a  Deal  mer- 
chant, is  committed  to  Newgate  for  stealing  one 
Miss  Rawlins,  a  young  lady  of  Leicestershire,  with 
a  fortune  of  £4,000.  Three  bailiffs  and  a  woman, 
Swanson's  pretended  sister,  who  assisted,  are  also 
committed,  they  having  forced  her  to  marry  him. 
Swanson  and  Mrs.  Bainton  were  convicted  of  this 


AFTER   THE   GREAT    FIRE  m 

felony  at  the  King's  Bench  Bar;  but  the  bailiffs 
who  arrested  her  on  a  sham  action  were  acquitted, 
with  which  the  court  was  not  well  pleased.  Swan- 
son  was  sentenced  to  death,  and  executed.  As  also 
the  woman;  but  she  being  found  with  child,  her 
execution  was  respited." 

A  more  flagrant  case  was  the  abduction  of  Miss 
Mary  Wharton  in  1690,  the  daughter  and  heiress 
of  Sir  George  Wharton,  by  Captain  James  Camp- 
bell, brother  to  the  Earl  of  Argyll,  assisted  by  Sir 
John  Johnson.  Miss  Wharton,  who  was  only 
thirteen  years  of  age,  had  a  fortune  of  £50,000. 
She  was  carried  away  from  her  relations  in 
Great  Queen  Street,  on  the  14th  November,  1690, 
and  married  against  her  will.  A  royal  proclama- 
tion was  forthwith  issued  for  the  apprehension  of 
Captain  Campbell  and  his  abettors.  Sir  John  John- 
son was  taken,  committed  to  Newgate,  and  pres- 
ently tried  and  cast  for  death.  "  Great  application 
was  made  to  the  king  and  to  the  relations  of  the 
bride  to  save  his  life,"  but  to  no  purpose,  "  which 
was  thought  the  harder,  as  it  appeared  upon  his 
trial  that  Miss  Wharton  had  given  evident  proof 
that  the  violence  Captain  Campbell  used  was  not 
so  much  against  her  will  as  her  lawyers  endeav- 
oured to  make  it."  Luttrell  says,  "  Sir  John  re- 
fused pardon  unless  requested  by  the  friends  of 
Mrs.  Wharton.  On  the  23d  December,  he  went  in 
a  mourning  coach  to  Tyburn,  and  there  was 
hanged."     No  mention  is  made  of  the  arrest  of 


112  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Captain  Campbell,  whom  we  may  conclude  got  off 
the  continent.  But  he  benefited  little  by  his  violence, 
for  a  bill  was  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons 
within  three  weeks  of  the  abduction  to  render  the 
marriage  void,  and  this,  although  the  Earl  of 
Argyll  on  behalf  of  his  brother  petitioned  against 
it,  speedily  passed  both  Houses. 

The  affair  of  Count  Konigsmark  may  be  classed 
with  the  foregoing,  as  another  notorious  instance 
of  an  attempt  to  bring  about  marriage  with  an 
heiress  by  violent  means.  The  lady  in  this  case  was 
the  last  of  the  Percies,  the  only  child  and  heiress  to 
the  vast  fortune  of  Jocelyn,  the  Earl  of  Northum- 
berland. Married  when  still  of  tender  years  to  the 
Earl  of  Ogle,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
she  was  a  virgin  widow  at  fifteen,  and  again  mar- 
ried against  her  consent,  it  was  said,  to  Thomas 
Thynne,  Esq.,  of  Longleat;^  "Tom  of  Ten  Thou- 
sand," as  he  was  called  on  account  of  his  income. 
This  second  marriage  was  not  consummated;  Lady 
Ogle  either  repented  herself  of  the  match  and  fled 
into  Holland,  or  her  relatives  wished  to  postpone 
her  entry  into  the  matrimonial  state,  and  she  was 
sent  to  live  abroad. 

Previous  to  her  second  marriage,  a  young 
Swedish  nobleman.  Count  Konigsmark,  when  on  a 
visit  to  England,  had  paid  his  addresses  to  her, 
but  he  had  failed  in  his  suit.     After  his  rejection 

*  Still  the  seat  of  the  Thynnes ;    and  the  property  of  the 
head  of  the  family  —  the  present  Marquis  of  Bath. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE 


113 


he   had    conceived    a    violent    hatred    against    Mr. 
Thynne. 

The  count  was  "  a  fine  person  of  a  man,  with  the 
longest  hair  I  ever  saw,  and  very  quick  of  parts. 
He  was  also  possessed  of  great  wealth  and  in- 
fluence;" "one  of  the  greatest  men,"  Sir  John 
Reresby  tells  us,  "  in  the  kingdom  of  Sweden ; 
his  uncle  being  at  that  time  governor  of  Pom- 
erania,  and  near  upon  marrying  the  King  of 
Sweden's  aunt."  Konigsmark  could  command  the 
devoted  service  of  reckless  men,  and  among  his 
followers  he  counted  one  Captain  Vratz,  to  whom 
he  seems  to  have  entrusted  the  task  of  dealing  with 
Mr.  Thynne.  Vratz,  although  a  brave  soldier, 
who  had  won  his  promotion  at  the  siege  of  Mons, 
under  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  to  whom  the  King 
of  Sweden  had  given  a  troop  of  horse,  was  willing 
to  act  as  an  assassin.  The  count  came  to  London, 
living  secretly  in  various  lodgings,  as  he  declared 
to  hide  a  distemper  from  which  he  suffered,  but  no 
doubt  to  direct  privately  the  operations  of  his 
bravoes.  Vratz  associated  with  himself  one  Stern, 
a  Swedish  lieutenant,  and  Boroski,  "  a  Polander," 
who  had  arrived  in  England  destitute,  and  whom, 
it  was  subsequently  proved,  the  count  had  furnished 
with  clothes  and  arms.  The  murderers,  having  set 
a  watch  for  their  victim,  attacked  him  at  the  corner 
of  Pall  Mall,  about  the  spot  where  Her  Majesty's 
Theatre  now  stands,  as  he  was  riding  on  Sunday 
night,  the  21st  February,  1681,  in  his  carriage  from 


114  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  Countess  of  Northumberland's  house.  One  of 
them  cried  to  the  coachman,  "  Stop,  you  dog!  "  and 
a  second,  Boroski,  immediately  fired  a  blunderbuss 
charged  with  bullets  into  the  carriage.  Four  bullets 
entered  Mr.  Thynne's  body,  each  of  which  inflicted 
a  mortal  wound.     The  murderers  then  made  off. 

The  unfortunate  gentleman  was  carried  dying  to 
his  own  house,  where  he  was  presently  joined  by 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  his  intimate  friend,  Lord 
Mordaunt,  and  Sir  John  Reresby,  specially  sent  by 
King  Charles,  who  feared  that  some  political  con- 
struction would  be  put  upon  the  transaction  and 
was  anxious  that  the  perpetrators  of  the  crime 
should  be  apprehended.  Reresby,  who  was  an  active 
magistrate,  granted  warrants  at  once  against  several 
suspected  persons,  and  he  himself,  accompanied 
by  the  Duke  of  Monmouth  and  others,  made  a 
close  search,  which  ended  in  the  arrest  of  Vratz 
in  the  house  of  a  Swedish  doctor,  in  Leicester  Fields. 
His  accomplices  were  also  soon  taken,  and  all  three 
were  examined  by  the  king  in  Council,  when  they 
confessed  that  they  had  done  the  deed  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Count  Konigsmark,  "  who  was  lately  in 
England." 

At  the  same  time  a  Monsieur  Foubert,  who  kept 
an  Academy  in  London  which  a  younger  brother 
of  Count  Konigsmark  attended,  was  arrested  as 
being  privy  to  the  murder,  and  admitted  that  the 
elder  brother  had  arrived  incognito  ten  days  before 
the  said  murder,  and  lay  disguised  till  it  was  com- 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  115 

mitted,  which  gave  great  cause  to  suspect  that  the 
count  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  bloody  affair. 
The  king  despatched  Sir  John  Reresby  to  seize 
Konigsmark,  but  the  bird  had  flown;  he  went  away 
early,  on  the  morning  of  the  day  after  the  deed  was 
perpetrated.  He  went  down  the  river  to  Deptford, 
then  to  Greenwich,  and  the  day  after  to  Gravesend, 
where  he  was  taken  by  two  king's  messengers,  ac- 
companied by  "  Mr.  Gibbons,  servant  to  the  Duke 
of  Monmouth,  and  Mr.  Kidd,  gentleman  to  Mr. 
Thynne."  He  was  dressed  "  in  a  very  mean  habit, 
under  which  he  carried  a  naked  sword."  When 
seized  he  gave  a  sudden  start,  so  that  his  wig  fell 
off,  and  the  fact  that  he  wore  a  wig,  instead  of  his 
own  hair  as  usual,  was  remembered  against  him  at 
his  trial,  as  an  attempt  at  disguise.  The  count  was 
carried  to  an  inn  in  Gravesend,  where  he  expressed 
very  great  concern  when  he  heard  that  his  men  had 
confessed;  declaring  that  it  (the  murder)  was  a 
stain  upon  his  blood,  "  although  one  good  action  in 
the  wars,  or  lodging  on  a  counterscrap,  would  wash 
all  that  away."  His  captors  received  the  £200 
reward,  promised  in  the  Gazette,  and  in  addition 
the  £500  offered  by  Sir  Thomas  Thynne,  Mr. 
Thynne's  heir. 

They  carried  him  at  once  to  London,  before  the 
king  in  Council,  where  he  was  examined,  but  the 
Council  being  unwilling  to  meddle  on  account  of 
his  quality,  as  connected  with  the  kingdom  of 
Sweden,  he  was  then   taken  before  Chief  Justice 


ii6  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Pemberton,  vvho  could,  if  he  thought  fit,  send  hun 
to  gaol.  He  was  examined  again  till  eleven  at 
night,  and  at  last,  "  much  against  the  count's  desire," 
was  committed  to  Newgate.  He  stood  upon  his  in- 
nocency,  and  confessed  nothing,  yet  "  people  are 
well  satisfied  that  he  is  taken."  While  in  Newgate, 
Count  Konigsmark  was  lodged  in  the  governor's 
house,  and  was  daily  visited  by  persons  of  quality. 
Great  efforts  were  now  made  to  obtain  his  release. 
The  M.  Foubert,  already  mentioned,  came  to  Sir 
John  Reresby,  and  offered  him  any  money  to  with- 
draw from  the  prosecution,  but  the  overtures  were 
stoutly  rejected,  and  his  emissary  was  warned  to  be 
cautious  "  how  he  made  any  offers  to  pervert 
justice."  A  more  effectual  attempt  at  bribery  was 
probably  made  on  the  jury,  of  whom  the  prisoner 
challenged  eighteen.  He  had  their  names  on  a  list, 
and  knew  beforehand  whom  he  could  or  could  not 
trust.  The  judge.  Lord  Chief  Justice  Pemberton, 
was  also  clearly  in  his  favour.  The  defence  set  up 
was  that  Vratz  had  taken  upon  himself  to  avenge  an 
affront  offered  by  Mr.  Thynne  to  his  master,  and 
Count  Konigsmark  denied  all  knowledge  of  his 
follower's  action.  The  count  tried  to  explain  the 
privacy  in  which  he  lived,  and  his  sudden  flight. 
But  the  counsel  for  the  prosecution  laid  great  stress 
on  the  intimacy  between  him  and  the  murderers ;  the 
absence  of  any  object  on  the  part  of  the  latter, 
unless  instigated  by  the  former.  The  Chief  Justice, 
however,  summed  up  for  the  count,  assuring  the 


AFTER   THE   GREAT   FIRE 


117 


jury  that  a  master  could  not  be  held  responsible  for 
the  acts  of  his  servants,  if  ignorant  of  them,  and 
that  if  they  thought  the  count  knew  nothing  of  the 
murder  till  after  it  was  done,  they  must  acquit  him, 
which  they  did,  "  to  the  no  small  wonder  of  the 
auditory,"  as  Luttrell  says,  "  as  more  than  proba- 
ble good  store  of  guineas  went  amongst  them." 
Konigsmark  was  set  at  liberty  at  the  end  of  the 
trial,  but  before  his  discharge  he  was  bound  in  heavy 
securities,  in  £2,000  himself,  and  £2,000  from  two 
friends,  to  appear  at  the  King's  Bench  Bar  the  first 
day  of  the  following  term.  "  Yet  notwithstanding, 
the  count  is  gone  into  France,  and  it  is  much 
doubted  whether  he  will  return  to  save  his  bail." 

After  his  departure  he  was  challenged  by  Lord 
Cavendish  and  Lord  Mordaunt,  but  no  duel  came 
ofif,  Konigsmark  declaring  that  he  never  received 
the  cartel  till  too  late.  His  agents  or  accomplices, 
or  whatever  they  may  be  called,  were  convicted  and 
executed. 

Count  Konigsmark  did  not  long  survive  Mr. 
Thynne,  nor  did  he  succeed  in  winning  Lady  Ogle's 
hand.  That  doubly  widowed  yet  virgin  wife 
presently  married  the  Duke  of  Somerset,  by  whom 
she  had  two  sons.  As  for  Konigsmark,  according 
to  the  "  Amsterdam  Historical  Dictionary,"  quoted 
in  Chambers's  "'Book  of  Days,"  he  resumed  the 
career  of  arms,  and  was  wounded  at  Cambray  in 
1683.  He  afterwards  went  to  Spain  with  his  regi- 
ment, and  distinguished  himself  on  several  occa- 


ii8  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

sions;  after  that  he  accompanied  an  uncle  Otto 
William  to  the  Morea,  where  he  was  present  at  the 
battle  of  Argas.  In  this  action  he  so  overheated 
himself  that  he  was  seized  with  pleurisy,  and  died 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven,  within  little  more 
than  four  years  of  the  murder  of  Mr.  Thynne.  It 
was  another  Count  Konigsmark,  near  relative  of 
this  one,  Count  Philip,  whose  guilty  intrigue  with 
Sophia  Dorothea,  wife  of  George  I,  when  Elector 
of  Hanover,  led  to  his  assassination  in  the  electoral 
palace. 

In  the  foregoing  the  softer  sex  were  either  victims 
or  the  innocent  incentives  to  crime.  In  the  case 
of  that  clever  and  unscrupulous  impostor  Mary 
Moders,  otherwise  Carelton,  commonly  called  the 
German  Princess,  it  was  exactly  the  opposite.  The 
daughter  of  a  chorister  in  Canterl)ury  Cathedral,  she 
first  married  a  shoemaker;  then,  dissatisfied  with 
her  lot,  ran  off  to  Dover  and  committed  bigamy 
with  a  doctor.  She  was  apprehended  for  this, 
tried,  and  acquitted  for  want  of  evidence.  She  next 
passed  over  to  Holland,  and  went  the  round  of  the 
German  spas,  at  one  of  which  she  encountered  a 
foolish  old  gentleman  of  large  estate,  who  fell  in 
love  with  her  and  offered  marriage.  She  accepted 
his  proposals  and  presents;  but  having  cajoled  him 
into  entrusting  her  with  a  large  sum  to  make 
preparations  for  the  wedding,  she  absconded  to 
Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam,  where  she  took  ship 
and  came  over  to  London.     Alighting  at  the  Ex- 


AFTER   THE    GREAT   FIRE  119 

change  Tavern,  kept  by  a  Mr.  King,  she  assumed 
the  state  and  title  of  a  princess,  giving  herself  out 
as  the  ill-used  child  of  Count  Henry  Van  Wolway, 
a  sovereign  prince  of  the  empire.  John  Carelton, 
a  brother-in-law  of  her  landlord,  at  once,  "  in  the 
most  dutiful  and  submissive  manner,"  paid  his  ad- 
dresses to  her,  and  she  at  last  condescended  to 
marry  him.  Carelton  was  presently  undeceived  by 
an  anonymous  letter,  which  proved  his  wife  to  be 
a  cheat  and  impostor. 

The  princess  was  arrested,  committed  to  New- 
gate, and  tried  for  polygamy  at  the  Old  Bailey,  but 
was  again  acquitted.  On  her  release,  deserted  by 
Carelton,  she  took  to  the  stage,  and  gained  some 
reputation,  in  a  piece  especially  written  for  her 
entitled  the  "  German  Princess."  Her  fame  spread 
through  the  town,  and  she  was  courted  by  number- 
less admirers,  two  of  whom  she  played  off  against 
each  other;  and  having  fleeced  both  of  several 
hundred  pounds,  flouted  them  for  presuming  to 
make  love  to  a  princess.  Another  victim  to  her 
wiles  was  an  elderly  man,  worth  about  £400  per 
annum,  who  loaded  her  with  gifts;  he  was  con- 
tinually gratifying  her  with  one  costly  present  or 
another,  which  she  took  care  to  receive  with  an 
appearance  of  being  ashamed  he  should  heap  so 
many  obligations  on  her,  telling  him  she  was  not 
worthy  of  so  many  favours.  One  night  when  her 
lover  came  home  in  liquor,  she  got  him  to  bed,  and 
when  he  was  asleep  rifled  his  pockets,  securing  his 


I20  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

keys  and  a  bill  on  a  goldsmith  for  a  hundred 
pounds.  Opening  all  his  escritoires  and  drawers, 
she  stole  everything,  gold  pieces,  watches,  seals,  and 
several  pieces  of  plate,  and  then  made  ofif.  After 
this  she  led  a  life  of  vagabondage,  moving  her 
lodgings  constantly,  and  laying  her  hands  on  all 
she  could  steal.  She  was  adroit  in  deceiving  trades- 
men, and  swindled  first  one  and  then  another  out  of 
goods.  At  last  she  was  arrested  for  stealing  a 
silver  tankard  in  Covent  Garden,  and  committed 
again  to  Newgate.  This  time  she  was  found  guilty 
and  cast  for  death,  but  the  sentence  was  commuted 
to  transportation.  She  was  sent  in  due  course  to 
Jamaica,  but  within  a  couple  of  years  escaped  from 
the  plantations,  and  reappeared  in  England.  By 
some  means  she  managed  to  pass  of¥  as  a  rich 
heiress,  and  inveigled  a  rich  apothecary  into 
marriage,  but  presently  robbed  him  of  above  £300 
and  left  him.  Her  next  trick  was  to  take  a  lodging 
in  the  same  house  with  a  watchmaker.  One  night 
she  invited  the  landlady  and  the  watchmaker  to  go 
to  the  play,  leaving  her  maid,  who  was  a  con- 
federate, alone  in  the  house.  The  maid  lost  no  time 
in  breaking  open  the  watchmaker's  coffers,  and  stole 
therefrom  thirty  watches,  with  about  two  hundred 
pounds  in  cash,  which  she  carried  off  to  a  secure 
place  in  another  part  of  the  town.  Meanwhile  the 
"  princess  "  had  invited  her  dupes  to  supper  at  the 
Green  Dragon  Tavern  in  Fleet  Street,  where  she 
managed  to  give  them  the  slip  and  joined  her  maid. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT   FIRE  121 

This  was  one  of  the  last  of  her  robberies.  Soon 
afterwards  fate  overtook  her  quite  by  accident. 
The  keeper  of  the  Marshalsea,  in  search  of  some 
stolen  property,  came  to  the  house  where  she  lodged, 
in  New  Spring  Gardens,  and  saw  her  "  walking  in 
the  two-pair-of-stairs  room  in  a  nightgown."  He 
went  in,  and  continuing  his  search,  came  upon  three 
letters,  which  he  proceeded  to  examine.  "  Madam 
seemed  offended  with  him,  and  their  dispute  caused 
him  to  look  at  her  so  steadfastly  that  he  knew  her, 
called  her  by  her  name,  and  carried  away  both  her 
and  her  letters."  She  was  committed  and  kept  a 
prisoner  till  i6th  January,  1673,  when  she  was  ar- 
raigned at  the  Old  Bailey,  as  the  woman  Mary 
Carelton,  for  returning  from  transportation.  On 
the  last  day  of  the  Sessions  she  received  sentence  of 
death,  "  which  she  heard  with  a  great  deal  of 
intrepidity." 

She  appeared  more  gay  and  brisk  than  ever  on 
the  day  of  her  execution.  When  the  irons  were 
removed  from  her  on  her  starting  for  Tyburn,  she 
pinned  the  picture  of  her  husband  Carelton  to  her 
sleeve,  and  carried  it  with  her  to  the  gallows.  She 
discovered  herself  to  a  gentleman  in  the  crowd  as 
a  Roman  Catholic,  and  having  conversed  with  him 
for  some  time  in  French,  on  parting  said,  "  Mon 
ami,  le  hon  Dieu  vous  henisse."  At  the  gallows 
she  harangued  the  crowd  at  some  length,  and  died 
as  she  had  lived,  a  reckless  although  undoubtedly  a 
gifted  and  intelligent  woman. 


122  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Prominent  among  the  criminal  names  of  this 
epoch  is  that  of  the  informer,  Titus  Oates,  no  less 
on  account  of  the  infamy  of  his  conduct  than  from 
the  severe  retribution  which  overtook  him  in  the 
reign  of  James  II.  The  arraignment  of  Green, 
Berry,  and  Laurence  Hill  for  the  trial  of  Sir 
Edmundbury  Godfrey,  who  were  brought  for  the 
purpose  "  from  Newgate  to  the  King's  Bench 
Bar,"  is  a  well-known  judicial  episode  of  the  year 
1678.  Oates  was  the  principal  witness  against  them ; 
but  he  was  followed  by  Praunce,  an  approver,  and 
others.  After  much  evidence  for  and  against,  and 
much  equivocation,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  Scroggs 
summed  up  the  evidence  strongly  for  conviction. 
When  the  jury  soon  returned  a  verdict  of  guilty, 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice  commended  them,  and  said 
if  it  were  the  last  word  he  had  to  speak  he  would 
have  pronounced  them  guilty.  Sentence  was  then 
given,  and  within  a  fortnight  they  were  executed. 
These  victims  of  the  so-called  Popish  Plot  were, 
however,  amply  and  ruthlessly  avenged.  Macaulay 
tells  the  story.  Oates  had  been  arrested  before 
Charles  IPs  death  for  defamatory  words,  and  cast 
in  damages  of  £100,000.  He  was  then,  after  the 
accession  of  James  II,  tried  on  two  indictments 
of  perjury,  and  it  was  proved  beyond  doubt  that  he 
had  by  false  testimony  deliberately  murdered  sev- 
eral guiltless  persons.  "  His  offence,  though  in  a 
moral  light  murder  of  the  most  aggravated  kind, 
was  in  the  eye  of  the  law  merely  a  misdemeanour." 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  123 

But  the  tribunal  which  convicted  made  its  punish- 
ment proportionate  to  the  real  offence.  Brutal 
Judge  Jeffries  was  its  mouthpiece,  and  he  sen- 
tenced him  to  be  unfrocked  and  pilloried  in  Palace 
Yard,  to  be  led  round  Westminster  Hall,  with  an 
inscription  over  his  head  declaring  his  infamy;  to 
be  pilloried  in  front  of  the  Royal  Exchange,  to  be 
whipped  from  Aldgate  to  Newgate,  and  after  an 
interval  of  two  days  to  be  whipped  from  New- 
gate to  Tyburn.  He  was  to  be  imprisoned  for  life, 
and  every  year  to  be  brought  from  his  dungeon 
and  exposed  in  different  parts  of  the  capital.  When 
on  the  pillory  he  was  mercilessly  pelted,  and  nearly 
torn  to  pieces.  His  first  flogging  was  executed 
rigorously  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  crowd,  and 
Oates,  a  man  of  strong  frame,  long  stood  the  lash 
without  a  murmur.  "  But  at  last  his  stubborn  forti- 
tude gave  way.  His  bellowings  were  frightful  to 
hear.  He  swooned  several  times ;  but  the  scourge 
still  continued  to  descend.  When  he  was  unbound 
it  seemed  he  had  borne  as  much  as  the  human  frame 
could  bear  without  dissolution.  .  .  .  After  an 
interval  of  forty-eight  hours  Oates  was  again 
brought  out  from  his  dungeon.  He  seemed  unable 
to  stand,  and  it  was  necessary  to  drag  him  to 
Tyburn  on  a  sledge."  He  was  again  flogged,  al- 
though insensible,  and  a  person  present  counted  the 
stripes  as  seventeen  hundred.  "  The  doors  of  the 
prison  closed  upon  him.  During  many  months  he 
remained  ironed  in  the  darkest  hole  in  Newgate." 


124  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

A  contemporary  account  written  by  one  of  his  own 
side  declares  he  received  "  upwards  of  two  thou- 
sand lashes  —  such  a  thing  was  never  inflicted  by 
any  Jew,  Turk,  or  heathen  but  Jeffries.  .  .  .  Had 
they  hanged  him  they  had  been  more  merciful;  had 
they  flayed  him  alive  it  is  a  question  whether  it 
would  have  been  so  much  torture."  ^ 

Dangerfield,  another  informer  of  the  Oates  type, 
but  of  lesser  guilt,  was  also  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced to  be  similarly  flogged  from  Aldgate  to  New- 
gate, and  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn.  "  When  he 
heard  his  doom  he  went  into  agonies  of  despair, 
gave  himself  up  for  dead,  and  chose  a  text  for  his 
funeral.  His  forebodings  were  just.  He  was  not 
indeed  scourged  quite  so  severely  as  Oates  had  been ; 
but  he  had  not  Oates's  iron  strength  of  body  and 
mind."  On  his  way  back  to  prison  he  was  assaulted 
by  Mr.  Francis,  a  Tory  gentleman  of  Gray's  Inn, 
who  struck  him  across  the  face  with  a  cane  and 
injured  his  eye.  "  Dangerfield  was  carried  dying 
into  Newgate.  This  dastardly  outrage  roused  the 
indignation  of  the  bystanders.  They  seized  Francis, 
and  were  with  difficulty  restrained  from  tearing 
him  to  pieces.  The  appearance  of  Dangerfield's 
body,  which  had  been  frightfully  lacerated  by  the 

*  Doctor  Oates  in  the  next  reign  was  to  some  extent  indem- 
nified for  his  sufferings.  When  quite  an  old  man  he  married 
a  young  city  heiress  with  a  fortime  of  £2,000;  and  a  writer 
who  handled  this  "  Salamanca  wedding,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
arrested.  Oates  was  in  the  receipt  of  a  pension  of  £300 
from  the  Government  when  he  died  in  1705. 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE  125 

whip,  inclined  many  to  believe  that  his  death  was 
chiefly  if  not  wholly  caused  by  the  stripes  which  he 
had  received."  The  Government  laid  all  the  blame 
on  Francis,  who  was  tried  and  executed  for  murder. 

Religion  and  politics  still  continued  to  supply  their 
quota  of  inmates.  The  law  was  still  cruelly  harsh 
to  Roman  Catholics,  Quakers,  and  all  Non-con- 
formists. 

The  Fifth  Monarchy  men  in  1661,  when  dis- 
comfited and  captured,  were  lodged  in  Newgate,  to 
the  number  of  twenty  or  more.  Venner,  the  ring- 
leader, was  amongst  them.  The  State  Trials  give 
the  trial  of  one  John  James,  who  was  arraigned  at 
the  King's  Bench  for  high  treason.  He  was  found 
guilty  of  compassing  the  death  of  the  king,  and 
suffered  the  cruel  sentence  then  in  force  for  the 
crime.  James  has  left  some  details  of  the  usage 
he  received  in  Newgate,  especially  in  the  matter  of 
extortion.  Fees  to  a  large  amount  were  exacted 
of  him,  although  a  poor  and  needy  wretch, 
"  originally  a  small  coal-man."  In  the  press-yard 
he  paid  i6s.  to  the  keeper  Hicks  for  the  use  of  his 
chamber,  although  he  only  remained  there  three 
or  four  days.  The  hangman  also  came  to  demand 
money,  that  "  he  might  be  favourable  to  him  at 
his  death,"  demanding  twenty  pounds,  then  falling 
to  ten,  at  last  threatening,  unless  he  got  five,  "  to 
torture  him  exceedingly.  To  which  James  said  he 
must  leave  himself  to  his  mercy,  for  he  had  nothing 
to  give  him."    Yet  at  the  execution,  the  report  says 


126  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  sheriff  and  the  hangman  were  so  civil  to  him  as 
to  suffer  him  to  be  dead  before  he  was  cut  down. 
After  that  he  was  dismembered;  some  of  the  parts 
were  burnt,  but  the  head  and  quarters  brought  back 
to  Newgate  in  a  basket,  and  exposed  upon  the  gates 
of  the  city.  Venner  and  several  others  suffered  in 
the  same  way. 

Many  Quakers  were  kept  in  Newgate,  imprisoned 
during  the  king's  pleasure  for  refusing  to  take  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy.  Thus  John 
Crook,  Isaac  Grey,  and  John  Bolton  were  so  con- 
fined, and  incurred  a  praemunire  or  forfeiture  of 
their  estates.  But  the  most  notable  of  the  Quakers 
were  Penn  and  Mead.  In  its  way  this  is  a  most 
remarkable  trial,  on  account  of  the  overbearing 
conduct  of  the  Bench  towards  the  prisoners.  In 
1670  these  two,  the  first  described  as  gentleman,  the 
second  as  linen-draper,  were  indicted  at  the  Old 
Bailey  for  having  caused  a  tumultuous  assembly  in 
Gracechurch  Street.  The  people  collected,  it  was 
charged,  to  hear  Penn  preach.  The  demeanour  of 
the  prisoners  in  the  court  was  so  bold,  that  it  drew 
down  on  them  the  anger  of  the  recorder,  who 
called  Penn  troublesome,  saucy,  and  so  forth.  The 
jury  were  clearly  in  their  favour,  and  brought  in 
a  verdict  of  not  guilty,  but  the  court  tried  to 
menace  them.  The  lord  mayor.  Sir  Samuel  Stirling, 
v\ras  especially  furious  with  Penn,  crying,  "  Stop 
his  mouth ;  gaoler,  bring  fetters  and  stake  him  to 
the  ground."     At  last  the  jury,  having  refused  to 


AFTER   THE    GREAT    FIRE 


127 


reconsider  their  verdict,  were  locked  up ;  while  Penn 
and  Mead  were  remanded  to  Newgate.  Next  day 
the  jury  came  up,  and  adhered  to  their  verdict. 
Whereupon  the  recorder  fined  them  forty  marks 
apiece  for  not  following  his  "  good  and  wholesome 
advice,"  adding,  "  God  keep  my  life  out  of  your 
hands."  ^  The  prisoners  demanded  their  liberty, 
"  being  freed  by  the  jury,"  but  were  detained  for 
their  fines  imposed  by  the  judge  for  alleged  con- 
tempt of  court.  Penn  protested  violently,  but  the 
recorder  cried,  "Take  him  away!"  and  the  pris- 
oners were  once  more  haled  to  Newgate.  Edward 
Bushell,  one  of  the  above-mentioned  jurors,  who 
was  committed  to  Newgate  in  default  of  payment 
of  fine,  subsequently  sued  out  a  Habeas  Corpus,  and 
was  brought  before  Lord  Chief  Justice  Vaughan, 
who  decided  in  his  favour,  whereon  he  and  the 
other  jurymen  were  discharged  from  gaol. 

There  were  Roman  Catholics  too  in  Newgate, 
convicted  of  participation  in  the  Popish  Plot. 
Samuel  Smith,  the  ordinary,  publishes  in  1679  an 
account  of  the  behaviour  of  fourteen  of  them,  "  late 
Popish  malefactors,  whilst  in  Newgate."  Among 
them  were  Whitehead,  provincial,  and  Fenwick, 
procurator,  of  the  Jesuits  in  England,  and  William 
Harcourt,  pretended  rector  of  London.  The  ac- 
count contains  a  description  of  Mr.  Smith's  efforts 

*The  practice  of  fining  jurors  for  finding  a  verdict  contrary 
to  the  direction  of  the  judge  had  already  been  declared  arbi- 
trary, unconstitutional,  and  illegal. 


128  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

at  conversion  and  ghostly  comfort,  which  were  bet- 
ter meant  than  successful. 

After  the  revolution  of  1688  there  was  an  act- 
ive search  after  Romish  priests,  and  many  were 
arrested ;  among  them  two  bishops,  Ellis  and  Ley- 
burn,  \vere  sent  to  Newgate.  They  were  visited  in 
gaol  by  Bishop  Burnet,  who  found  them  in  a 
wretched  plight,  and  humanely  ordered  their  situa- 
tion to  be  improved.  Other  inmates  of  Newgate  at 
this  troublous  period  were  the  ex-Lord  Oiief  Justice 
Wright  and  several  judges.  It  v^as  Wright  who  had 
tried  the  seven  bishops.  Jeffries  had  had  him  made 
a  judge,  although  the  lord  keeper  styled  him  the 
most  unfit  person  in  the  kingdom  for  that  office. 
Macaulay  says  very  few  lawyers  of  the  time  sur- 
passed him  in  turpitude  and  effrontery.  He  died 
miserably  in  Newgate  about  1690,  where  he  re- 
mained under  a  charge  of  attempting  to  subvert  the 
Government. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    PRESS  -  YARD 

The  press-yard  described  —  Charges  for  admission  —  Extor- 
tionate fees  paid  to  turnkeys  and  governor  —  The  latter's 
perquisites  —  Arrival  of  Jacobite  prisoners  —  Discussed  by 
lower  officials  —  Preparations  for  them  —  Their  appearance 
and  demeanour  —  High  prices  charged  for  gaol  lodgings  — 
They  live  royally  —  First  executions  abate  their  gaiety  — 
Escapes  —  Keeper  superseded  by  officials  specially  appointed 
by  lord  mayor  —  Strictness  of  new  regime  —  A  military 
guard  mounts  —  Rioting  and  revels  among  the  Jacobites 
once  more  checked  by  execution  of  members  of  the  party 
—  Rumours  of  an  amnesty — Mr.  Freeman,  who  fired  a 
pistol  in  theatre  when  Prince  of  Wales  was  present,  com- 
mitted to  Press-yard  —  Freeman's  violent  conduct  —  Prison- 
ers suffer  from  overcrowding  and  heat  —  Pardons  —  Rob 
Roy  in  Newgate  —  Other  prisoners  in  press-yard  —  Major 
Bernardi  —  His  history  and  long  detentions  —  dies  in  gaol 
after   forty  years'   imprisonment. 

The  press-yard  of  the  prison  was  intended 
especially  for  State  prisoners,  or  those  incarcerated 
on  "  commitments  of  State,"  and  was  deemed  to  be 
part  and  parcel  of  the  governor's  house,  not  actually 
within  the  precincts  of  the  prison.  This  was  a 
pious  fiction,  put  forth  as  an  excuse  for  exacting 
fees  in  excess  of  the  amounts  prescribed  by  act  of 
Parliament.    A  sum  of  twenty  gtiineas  was  charged 

129 


I30 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


for  admission  to  this  favoured  spot ;  in  other  words, 
"  for  hberty  of  having  room  enough  to  walk  two 
or  three  of  a  breadth."  "  The  gentlemen  admitted 
here  are  moreover  under  a  necessity  of  paying  i  is. 
each  per  week,  although  two  and  sometimes  three 
lie  in  a  bed.  and  some  chambers  have  three  or  four 
beds  in  them."  The  act  referred  to  specially  pro- 
vided that  keepers  might  not  charge  more  than  half 
a  crown  per  week  as  rent  for  every  chamber. 

This  rule  the  governor  of  Newgate — for  this 
haughty  commander-in-chief  over  defenceless  men 
was  styled  by  the  same  name  as  the  constable  of 
the  Tower  —  entirely  ignored,  and  the  prisoner 
committed  to  his  custody  had  to  decide  between 
submitting  to  the  extortion,  or  taking  up  his  abode 
in  the  common  gaol,  where  he  had  thieves  and 
villains  for  his  associates,  and  was  perpetually  tor- 
mented and  eaten  up  by  distempers  and  vermin. 

The  extortion  practised  about  1715  is  graphic- 
ally described  by  one  who  endured  it.  The  author 
of  the  "  History  of  the  Press-yard,"  after  having 
been  mulcted  on  first  arrival  at  the  lodge  for  drink 
and  "  garnish,"  was,  although  presumably  a  State 
prisoner,  and  entitled  to  better  treatment,  at  once 
cast  in  the  condemned  hold.  In  this  gruesome 
place,  he  lay  "  seized  with  a  panic  dread  "  at  the 
survey  of  his  new  tenement,  and  willing  to  change 
it  for  another  on  almost  any  terms.  "  As  this  was 
the  design  of  my  being  brought  hither,  so  was  I 
made  apprized   of  it  by  an  expected  method ;   for 


THE    PRESS -YARD 


131 


I  had  not  bewailed  my  condition  more  than  half 
an  hour,  before  I  heard  a  voice  from  above  crying- 
out  from  a  board  taken  out  of  my  ceiling,  which 
was  the  speaker's  floor,   '  Sir,   I  understand  your 

name  is ,  and  that  you  are  a  gentleman  too 

well  educated  to  take  up  your  abode  in  a  vault  set 
apart  only  for  thieves,  parricides,  and  murderers. 
From  hence  criminals  after  sentence  of  death  are 
carried  to  the  place  of  execution,  and  from  hence 
you  may  be  removed  to  a  chamber  equal  to  one 
in  any  private  house,  where  you  may  be  furnished 
with  the  best  conversation  and  entertainment,  on  a 
valuable  consideration.'  "  The  speaker  went  on  to 
protest  that  he  acted  solely  from  good-will;  that 
he  was  himself  a  prisoner,  and  had  suffered  at  first 
in  the  same  manner,  but  had  paid  a  sum  to  be  re- 
moved to  better  quarters,  and  which  he  thanked  God 
he  enjoyed  to  his  heart's  content,  wanting  for  noth- 
ing that  a  gaol  could  afford  him.  The  victim  begged 
to  know  the  terms,  and  to  be  put  in  communica- 
tion with  the  proper  officer  to  make  a  contract  for 
release.  The  other  promised  accordingly,  and  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  afterwards  "  clang  went  the 
chain  of  my  door  and  bolts,  and  in  comes  a  gen- 
tleman-like man  of  very  smiling  aspect,"  who 
apologized  profusely,  swearing  that  those  who  had 
ill-used  a  gentleman  in  such  an  unhandsome  manner 
should  be  well  trounced  for  it.  "  He  moreover 
excused  the  want  of  suitable  entertainment  for  per- 
sons   of   condition    in    prison-houses,    and    assured 


132  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

me  that  I  should  be  immediately  conducted  to  the 
governor's  house,  who  would  take  all  imaginable 
care  of  my  reception.  After  this  he  very  kindly 
took  me  by  the  hand  to  lead  me  down  into  the  lodge, 
which  I  rightly  apprehended  as  a  motive  to  feel  my 
pulse,  and  therefore  made  use  of  the  opportunity 
to  clap  two  pieces,  which  he  let  my  hand  go  to  have 
a  fast  grip  of,  in  his."  His  deliverer  was  the  head 
turnkey,  by  name  Bodenhani  Rouse,  whom  he  ac- 
companied to  the  lodge,  and  there  again  stood  drink 
and  was  his  firm  friend. 

The  moment  was  one  of  considerable  political 
excitement.  The  Pretender's  first  attempt  had  col- 
lapsed in  the  north,  and  the  press-yard  was  about 
to  be  crowded  with  more  eminent  guests.  Our 
author  is  aroused  one  fine  morning  by  loud  joy- 
bells  pealing  from  the  churches,  and  he  immediately 
learns  from  his  Jacobite  companion  that  the  "  king's 
affairs  were  ruined,  and  that  the  generals  Willis  and 
Carpenter  had  attacked  the  Jacobite  forces  in  Pres- 
ton, and  taken  all  prisoners  at  discretion."  Newgate 
is  convulsed  by  the  news.  Its  officers  are  wild  with 
delight,  "  calling  for  liquor  after  an  extravagant 
manner,  and  drinking  to  their  good  luck,  which 
was  to  arise  from  the  ruin  and  loss  of  lives  and 
fortunes  in  many  good  families."  In  1716  Mr.  Pitt, 
the  governor,  appears  upon  the  scene,  accompanied 
by  other  officials,  to  survey  the  rooms,  and  estimate 
the  number  of  new  tenants  that  could  be  accom- 
modated  therein.      All   due  preparations   made,   a 


THE    PRESS -YARD 


133 


few  days  more  brought  to  Newgate  the  unfortunate 
noblemen  and  gentlemen  who  had  surrendered  at 
discretion,  hoping  thus,  although  vainly,  to  save 
both  life  and  estate.  On  their  arrival  in  London 
they  were  led  in  triumph  through  the  streets  to  their 
respective  places  of  durance  —  viz.,  the  Tower,  the 
Marshalsea,  Newgate,  and  the  Fleet.  The  prisoners 
on  arrival  at  Highgate  were  met  by  Major-General 
Tarlton  with  two  battalions  of  Royal  Foot  Guards, 
completely  armed.  Cords  were  also  brought  suf- 
ficient to  pinion  each  prisoner  after  the  manner  of 
condemned  criminals,  and  to  lead  their  horses,  for 
each,  from  the  lord  to  the  footman,  was  accom- 
modated with  a  grenadier  to  that  end.  Thus  under 
safe  conduct  they  marched  from  the  Hill  of  High- 
gate  to  their  several  places  of  confinement.  The 
major-general  led  the  way,  being  "  preceded  by 
several  citizens  of  more  loyalty  than  compassion, 
who  made  repeated  huzzas  to  excite  the  mob  to  do 
the  like."  After  the  general  commanding  came  a 
company  of  the  first  regiment  of  Guards,  who 
made  a  very  fine  appearance.  Then  came  the  divi- 
sion for  the  Tower,  two  and  two,  the  Earl  of 
Derwentwater  and  Lord  Widdrington  in  the  first 
rank,  the  other  lords  and  noblemen  following  with 
haltered  horses,  bound  like  common  malefactors, 
and  reviled  and  hooted. 

Those  for  Newgate  brought  up  the  rear.  They 
were  civilly  and  humanely  treated  on  arrival  there. 
The  prison  officers  received  them  under  the  gate- 


134 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


way,  and  no  sooner  were  the  prisoners  alighted 
from  their  horses  and  their  names  called  over,  than 
their  cords  were  immediately  cut  from  their  arms 
and  shoulders,  and  refreshment  of  wine  brought 
to  them. 

"  Their  number  was  about  seventy,"  says  our 
author.  "  And  amongst  them  in  particular  I  could 
not  but  cast  my  eye  upon  one  Mr.  Archibald  Bolair, 
who  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  his  age  was  said  to 
have  signalized  his  courage,  and  have  displayed  as 
much  skill  and  dexterity  in  feats  of  arms  in  the 
battle  of  Preston  as  the  oldest  commander  of  them. 
Brigadier  Macintosh  himself,  though  trained  up  in 
warlike  affairs,  not  excepted.  What  induced  me  to 
distinguish  him  from  the  rest  was  the  fearless  way 
of  expression  he  made  use  of  when  the  clerk  of  the 
prison  cut  his  cords.  '  By  my  soul,  man,'  said  he, 
*  you  should  not  have  done  that,  but  kept  it  whole 
that  I  might  either  have  been  hanged  with  it,  or 
have  it  to  show,  if  I  escaped  the  gallows,  how  I  had 
been  led  like  a  dog  in  a  string  for  twice  two  miles 
together.'  Mr.  Bolair  then  inquired  feelingly  for 
his  followers,  who  had  been  brought  so  many  miles 
from  home  out  of  observance  of  his  orders,  and  he 
was  anxious  that  they  should  not  want."  Young 
Mr.  Bolair  was  told  off  to  the  same  room  as  our 
author,  in  which  two  additional  beds  were  placed, 
for  the  convenience  of  the  keeper,  who  by  four  beds 
in  one  room,  filled  each  with  three  tenants,  got  £6 
per  week,  besides  the  sums  paid  as  entrance  money. 


THE    PRESS -YARD 


135 


The  prisoners  included  many  persons  of  note. 
Two  of  them  —  Mr.  Forster,  who  thought  himself 
slighted  and  ill-used  because,  in  consideration  of 
his  seat  in  Parliament,  he  had  not  been  imprisoned 
in  the  Tower ;  and  Francis  Anderson,  esquire,  com- 
monly called  Sir  Francis,  a  gentleman  of  £2,000 
per  annum  —  had  apartments  in  the  governor's 
house  at  £5  per  head  per  week.  There  were  also 
Colonel  Oxborough,  Brigadier  Macintosh,  the  two 
Talbots,  the  Shaftos,  Mr.  Wogan,  and  Captain 
Menzies,  who  with  their  adherents  and  servants 
were  thrust  into  the  worst  dungeons,  —  such  as 
"  the  lion's  den  "  and  the  "  middle  dark,"  —  till  for 
better  lodgment  they  had  advanced  more  money 
than  would  have  rented  one  of  the  best  houses  in 
Piccadilly  or  St.  James's  Square.  The  fee  or 
premium  paid  by  Mr.  Forster  and  Sir  Francis 
Anderson  for  being  accommodated  in  the  governor's 
house  was  £60,  and  it  cost  the  latter  twenty-five 
guineas  more  to  keep  ofif  his  irons.  Mr.  Widdring- 
ton,  Mr.  Ratcliffe,  and  others  paid  twenty  guineas 
apiece  for  the  like  favour  at  their  first  coming  in; 
and  every  one  that  would  not  be  turned  to  the  com- 
mon side,  ten  guineas,  besides  one  guinea  and  ten 
shillings  per  man  for  every  week's  lodging,  al- 
though in  some  rooms  the  men  lay  four  in  a  bed. 
As  the  result  of  these  extortions  it  was  computed 
that  Mr.  Pitt  cleared  some  £3,000  or  £4,000  in 
three  or  four  months,  besides  **  valuable  presents 
given  in  private,  and  among  others  a  stone  horse." 


136         CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Money  was,  however,  plentiful  among  the  incar- 
cerated Jacobites,  and  so  far  as  was  consistent  with 
their  situation,  they  lived  right  royally.  Sympa- 
thetic friends  from  without  plied  them  with  wines 
and  luxurious  diet.  They  had  every  day  a  variety 
of  the  choicest  eatables  in  season,  "  and  that  too  as 
early  as  the  greatest  and  nicest  ladies."  ^  Forty 
shillings  for  a  dish  of  peas  was  nothing  to  their 
pockets,  nor  13^,  for  a  dish  of  fish.  These,  "with 
the  best  French  wine,  was  an  ordinary  regale." 
They  "  lived  in  this  profuse  manner,  and  fared  so 
sumptuously  through  the  means  of  daily  visitants 
and  helps  from  abroad."  Money  circulated  plenti- 
fully within  the  prison.  While  it  was  difficult  to 
change  a  guinea  at  any  house  in  the  street,  nothing 
was  more  easy  than  to  have  silver  for  gold  in  any 
quantity  in  Newgate.  Nor  did  many  of  them  lack 
female  sympathy.  Ladies  of  the  first  rank  and 
quality,  even  tradesmen's  wives  and  daughters, 
"  made  a  sacrifice  of  their  husbands'  and  parents' 
rings  and  precious  movables  for  the  use  of  those 
whom  the  law  had  appointed  to  be  so  many  sacri- 
fices themselves."  "  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
a  champion  so  noted  for  the  cause  as  Captain  Silk 
was  neglected ;  for  he  had  his  full  share  of  those 


* "  Secret  History  of  the  Rebels  in  Newgate :  giving  an 
account  of  their  daily  behaviour  from  their  commitment  to 
their  gaol  delivery."  Taken  from  "the  diary  of  a  gentleman 
in  the  same  prison "  —  one  who  was  evidently  no  particular 
admirer  of  theirs. 


THE    PRESS -YARD  137 

treats  which  soon  made  his  clothes  too  Httle  for 
his  corpse."  When  not  feasting  and  chambering, 
the  prisoners  found  diversion  in  playing  shuttle- 
cock, "  at  which  noble  game  the  valiant  Forster  beat 
all  who  engaged  him,  so  that  he  triumphed  with  his 
feather  in  the  prison  though  he  could  not  do  it  in 
the  field."  ' 

For  long  there  was  nothing  among  them  but 
flaunting  apparel,  venison  pasties,  hams,  chickens, 
and  other  costly  meats."  But  soon  all  their  jollity 
came  abruptly  to  an  end.  The  news  of  the  sad  fate 
of  the  two  peers  Derwentwater  and  Kenmure,  who 
had  been  brought  to  trial  and  executed  upon  Tower 
Hill,  abated  their  gaiety.  They  were  yet  more 
unmistakably  reminded  of  their  perilous  position  by 
the  notice  which  now  came  to  them  to  provide  them- 
selves with  counsel  and  witnesses  for  their  own  de- 
fence. Fresh  committals,  too,  were  made  to  New- 
gate; prisoners  were  sent  in  from  the  Tower  and 
the  Fleet.  Among  them  were  Mr.  Howard,  brother 
to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  Master  of  Nairn,  Mr. 
Baird  Hamilton,  "  a  gentleman  who  behaved  with 
wonderful  gallantry  at  the  action  of  Preston ;  "  Mr. 
Charles  Radcliffe,  Lord  Derwentwater's  brother, 
"  a  youth  of  extraordinary  courage ;  "  Mr.  Charles 
and  Mr.  Peregrine  Widdington,  "  two  gentlemen  of 
diversion  and  pleasure,  both  papists ;  "  the  two  Mr. 
Cottons,   father  and  son,  *'  nonjurant  Protestants, 

*  It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Forster's  want  of  general- 
ship lost  the  battle  of  Prestonpans. 


138  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

and  of  great  estate  in  Huntingdonshire;"  Mr. 
Thomas  Errington,  "  a  gentleman  that  had  been  in 
the  French  service,  .  .  .  with  the  laird  of  Mac- 
intosh, Colonel  Mcintosh,  and  Major  Mcintosh, 
together  with  other  Scotch  gentlemen." 

Brought  thus  face  to  face  with  their  very  press- 
ing danger,  all  more  or  less  cast  about  them  for 
some  means  of  escape.  Several  desperate  attempts 
were  made  to  break  prison.  Thus  on  the  14th 
March,  171 7,  it  was  discovered  that  several  had 
tried  to  get  out  by  breaking  through  the  press-yard 
wall,  "  from  which  they  were  to  be  let  down  by  a 
rope,  instead  of  being  tucked  up  by  one  at  Tyburn." 
For  this  several  were  placed  in  irons. 

Some  time  later  Mr.  Forster  got  clean  away,  as 
did  Brigadier  Macintosh  and  eight  others.  Mr. 
George  Budden,  formerly  an  upholsterer  near  Fleet 
Bridge,  also  effected  his  escape;  and  last,  but  not 
least,  Mr.  Charles  Radcliffe,  Lord  Derwentwater's 
brother.  After  Mr.  Forster's  escape  the  Govern- 
ment took  greater  precautions,  and  a  lieutenant  with 
thirty  men  of  the  Foot  Guards  was  ordered  to  do 
constant  duty  at  Newgate,  Mr.  Pitt,  the  keeper, 
was  strongly  suspected  of  collusion,  and  was  at- 
tached on  a  charge  of  high  treason,  being  after 
arrested  committed  to  the  custody  of  one  Wilcox,  a 
messenger,  "  who  used  him  in  a  barbarous  manner, 
contrary,  no  doubt,  to  the  instruction  of  the  noble 
lord  that  issued  the  warrant  for  his  confinement." 
The  city  authorities,  no  doubt  exercised  at  the  in- 


THE    PRESS -YARD  139 

security  of  their  gaol,  also  roused  themselves  ''  to 
look  better  after  their  prison  of  Newgate,"  and  in- 
stead of  leaving  Mr.  Rouse  chief  turnkey  in  charge 
of  the  whole  place,  specially  appointed  Mr.  Carleton 
Smith,  an  officer  of  the  lord  mayor's,  and  with  him 
Mr.  Russell,  to  take  care  of  the  rebels  in  the  press- 
yard.  These  new  officials  "  performed  their  part  so 
well,"  it  is  said,  "  by  examining  all  the  visitors,  de- 
barring entrance  to  all  riding-hoods,  cloaks,  and 
arms,  and  by  sitting  up  all  night  in  the  prison,  each 
in  his  turn,  that  not  one  man  escaped  from  thence 
during  their  time." 

The  new  keepers  appear  to  have  stirred  up  much 
animosity  from  their  punctual  discharge  of  their 
duties.  Mr.  Russell,  we  read,  shortly  after  his  ap- 
pointment was  very  much  abused  and  threatened 
by  Captain  Silk  and  some  of  the  rebels,  who  sur- 
rounded him  in  the  press-yard,  but  he  made  his 
retreat  without  any  harm.  There  must  have  been 
some  in  the  reigning  monarch's  service  with  secret 
sympathies  for  the  Pretender;  for  it  is  recorded, 
May  14th,  that  "  an  officer  of  the  guards  with  two 
others  conversed  with  the  rebels  all  day."  They 
were,  moreover,  humoursome  and  abusive  to  the 
new  keepers  because  of  their  care  in  looking  after 
their  prisoners ;  whereof  Messrs.  Carleton  Smith 
and  Russell  complained  to  the  lord  mayor,  who 
thereupon  ordered  that  no  officer  should  be  per- 
mitted to  visit  the  prisoners  without  the  express 
permission  of  the  Secretary  of  State;  and  next  day 


I40  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

it  is  stated  the  officer  in  fault  was  "  submissive  and 
sorry  for  his  offence,"  This  was  not  the  first 
offence  of  the  kind.  A  few  days  previous  to  this 
the  officer  of  the  guard  went  in,  contrary  to  custom, 
with  his  sword  on,  to  see  the  prisoners.  He  con- 
tinued with  them  for  some  hours,  and  whether 
heated  with  wine  or  otherwise,  beat  one  of  the  turn- 
keys as  he  brought  in  a  rebel  from  trial.  This 
officer  was  placed  in  arrest,  and  another  mounted 
guard  in  his  place,  who  "  prevented  the  drunken- 
ness and  other  irregularities  of  the  soldiers  which 
might  have  given  the  prisoners  an  opportunity  to 
escape." 

Matters  were  not  too  comfortable  for  the  mili- 
tary guard.  The  men  at  the  gate  were  liable  to  in- 
sults as  on  the  19th  May,  when  they  were  reviled 
by  a  Tory  constable.  They  were  also  exposed  to 
efforts  to  wean  them  from  their  allegiance.  One 
day  Mr.  Carleton  Smith  detected  a  prisoner,  Isaac 
Dalton,*  in  durance  for  libel,  endeavouring  to 
corrupt  the  sentinels  by  giving  them  money  to  drink 
the  Pretender's  health.  "  But  he  missed  his  aim." 
Tlie  soldiers  heartily  drank  to  King  George  in  wine 
supplied  by  Mr.  Smith,  and  declared  they  would 
oppose  the  Pretender  to  the  last  drop  of  their  blood. 
All  the  guards  were  not  equally  loyal,  however.  On 
another  occasion  the  soldiers  of  the  guard  "  had  the 

'  For  this  Dalton  was  convicted  and  fined  fifty  marks,  with 
imprisonment  for  one  year,  also  to  find  security  for  three 
more  years. 


THE    PRESS -YARD  141 

impudence  to  sing  Captain  Silk's  dearly  beloved 
tune,  '  The  king  shall  have  his  own  again,'  for  vi^hich 
their  officer,  Captain  Reeve,  a  very  loyal  gentleman, 
threatened  them  with  imprisonment." 

The  peril  of  the  prisoners  bred  a  certain  reckless 
turbulence  among  them.  On  the  29th  May  a  mob 
collected  in  great  numbers  outside,  carrying  oaken 
boughs  on  pretence  of  commemorating  the  restora- 
tion. The  guard  was  reinforced,  lest  the  mob 
should  attempt  to  break  open  the  gaol.  Inside  the 
rebels  were  very  noisy,  and  insulted  their  keepers; 
"  but  they  were  soon  put  out  of  a  capacity  of 
doing  much  harm,  for  by  way  of  precaution  they 
were  all  locked  up  before  ten  o'clock."  This  hour 
of  early  closing  was  continued,  and  greatly  resented 
by  them.  A  few  days  later  they  made  a  great  dis- 
turbance at  the  sound  of  a  bell  set  up  by  order  of 
the  lord  mayor  to  ring  them  to  their  apartments 
at  the  regular  hour.  They  asked  for  the  order.  It 
was  read  to  them,  to  their  manifest  dissatisfaction, 
for  it  referred  the  recent  escapes  to  the  unaccount- 
able liberty  of  indulgence  permitted  them,  and  in- 
sisted that  upon  the  ringing  of  the  bell  in  question 
all  should  betake  themselves  to  their  apartments. 
Ten  was  the  hour  of  retirinsr  "  at  farthest ;  "  anv 
infringement  of  the  rule  would  be  followed  by  the 
deprivation  of  all  freedom,  and  double  irons  for 
the  offenders.  Except  Captain  Silk,  however,  all 
acquiesced  in  the  order.  He  alone,  "  with  his  usual 
impudence,  bullied  the  keeper,  and  made  many  un- 


142  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

becoming  reflections  upon  the  lord  mayor  and 
sheriffs."  Nor  did  insubordination  end  here.  A  day 
or  two  later  the  lord  mayor's  notice,  which  had  been 
posted  up  in  the  various  press-yard  rooms,  was  torn 
down  by  the  rebels  in  contempt  of  authority. 

A  fresh  and  more  serious  riot  soon  occurred  in 
the  streets,  on  the  occasion  of  the  thanksgiving 
on  the  anniversary  of  Preston  fight.  Several 
visitors  came  to  the  rebels  w-ith  rue  and  thyme  in 
their  hats  and  bosoms  in  contempt  of  the  day;  but 
the  new  keepers  made  bold  to  strip  them  of  their 
badges  and  strew  the  floors  with  them,  "  as  more 
worthy  to  be  trodden  underfoot  than  be  worn  by 
way  of  insult  on  that  glorious  day."  About  mid- 
night brickbats  were  thrown  from  the  neighbouring 
houses  upon  the  soldiers  on  guard;  and  the  guard 
in  retaliation  fired  up  at  the  places  whence  came  the 
attack.  Mr.  Carleton  Smith  whose  turn  it  was  to 
sit  up,  feared  some  attempt  was  being  made  to  break 
the  gaol,  and  "  leaping  out  to  know  the  occasion  of 
the  firing,  searched  several  of  the  houses;  in  doing 
which  he  was  like  to  have  been  shot  by  a  ball  which 
came  up  to  the  room  where  he  was."  But  the  at- 
tachment of  the  rebels  to  their  cause  was  not  to  be 
checked.  It  broke  out  again  on  the  loth  June,  the 
anniversary  of  the  Pretender's  birth.  "  Captain 
Booth,  whose  window  looked  into  Phcenix  Court, 
was  so  insolent  as  to  put  out  a  great  bunch  of  white 
roses  at  his  window,"  and  several  visitors  of  both 
sexes  came  wearing  the  same  rebellious  badges.    But 


THE    PRESS -YARD  143 

again  the  keepers  pulled  them  out  and  threw  them  on 
the  floor. 

In  all  these  disturbances  Captain  Silk  was  a  ring- 
leader. He  is  continually  ready  to  make  a  noise. 
Now  he  swears  revenge  upon  the  keeper  for  not 
allowing  supper  to  be  carried  in  to  him  and  his 
"  conrogues  "  after  10  p.  m.  ;  now  he  incites  other 
prisoners  to  riot.  "  They  are  for  the  most  part  very 
drunk  and  rude,  so  that  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
that  they  were  got  to  their  rooms  by  one  o'clock  in 
the  morning."  Next  day  Captain  Silk  continues 
his  insolence.  He  threatens  Mr.  Smith  for  refus- 
ing to  pass  in  visitors  after  regulated  hours.  Again 
he  and  his  companions  are  drunk  and  insolent,  and 
cannot  be  got  to  their  rooms  till  the  same  late  hour. 
A  night  or  two  later  they  crowded  about  the  doors 
when  they  were  opened,  cursing  and  assaulting  the 
person  who  rang  the  night-bell.  Captain  Silk,  as 
before,  encouraged  them,  and  to  provoke  them  fur- 
ther, when  the  bell  sounded  cried  out,  "  Get  up,  ye 
slaves,  and  go." 

Sadder  moments  soon  supervened.  The  trials 
were  proceeding,  and  already  the  law  had  con- 
demned several.  Among  the  first  to  suffer  were 
Colonel  Oxborough  and  Mr.  Gascoigne :  the  latter 
was  offered  his  pardon  on  conditions  which  he  re- 
jected, and  both  began  to  make  great  preparations 
for  "  their  great  change."  Colonel  Oxborough, 
who  lay  in  the  condemned  hold,  behaved  with  an 
astonishing  serenity  of  mind;  and  when  his  friends 


144  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

expressed  their  concern  in  tears,  he  gravely  rebuked 
them,  showing  an  easiness  very  unaccustomed  in 
the  bravest  minds  under  such  a  sentence.  Next  an 
order  of  the  court  came  down  for  the  execution 
of  twenty-four  more  who  had  been  condemned,  and 
"  universal  sorrow  "  prevailed  in  the  gaol.  Parson 
Paul,^  one  of  the  number,  was  "  so  dejected  he 
could  not  eat;  "  most  of  the  other  prisoners  retired 
to  their  apartments  to  vent  their  grief,  and  a  vast 
number  of  their  friends  in  tears  came  to  condole 
with  them.  After  this  all  were  busy  with  petitions 
to  the  court.  Some  were  immediately  successful. 
Handsome  young  Archibald  Bolair  w^as  discharged, 
"  at  which  Lady  Faulconbridge,  his  supposed  bene- 
factress, went  out  with  a  smiling  countenance." 
Next  night  he  returned  in  his  kilt  to  visit  his  friends, 
but  was  denied  entrance.  That  same  midnight  there 
were  great  shouts  of  joy  in  the  prison :  a  reprieve 
had  come  down  for  all  but  Parson  Paul  and 
Justice  Hall,^  both  of  whom  were  led  next  day  to 

'  Parson  Paul  was  the  Rev.  William  Paul,  M.  A.,  vicar  of 
Orton-on-the-Hill,  in  Leicestershire.  He  met  the  rebels  at 
Preston,  and  performed  service  there,  praying  for  the  Pre- 
tender as  King  James  the  Third.  When  the  royal  troops  in- 
vested Preston,  Mr.  Paul  escaped  "  in  coloured  clothes,  a  long 
wig,  a  laced  hat,  and  a  sword  by  his  side."  He  came  to  Lon- 
don, and  was  recognized  in  St.  James's  Park  by  a  Leicester- 
shire magistrate,  who  apprehended  him,  and  he  was  com- 
mitted to   Newgate. 

*One  of  the  Halls  of  Otterburn,  Northumberland,  and  a 
magistrate  for  the  county.  He  joined  the  Pretender  early, 
and  was  one  of  his  most  active  and  staunch  supporters. 


THE    PRESS -YARD  145 

Tyburn.  Neither  would  admit  the  ministrations  of 
the  ordinary,  to  whom  they  "  behaved  rudely,"  and 
they  were  attended  at  the  place  of  execution  by 
priests  of  their  own  stamp  in  a  lay  habit.  The  con- 
demned were  hardened  to  the  highest  degree,  says 
their  implacable  opponent,  and  gave  free  vent  to 
their  treason  in  seditious  speeches  at  the  gallows. 

Great  consternation  prevailed  after  these  execu- 
tions. It  was  greatly  increased  by  the  known  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Government  at  the  demeanour  of 
some  of  the  condemned  at  Tyburn.  But  the  king 
(George  I)  was  now  gone  on  a  visit  to  Hanover; 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  as  regent,  was  pleased 
to  put  an  end  to  the  further  effusion  of  blood. 
Rumours  of  an  Act  of  Indemnity  were  spread 
abroad,  and  abundance  of  visitors  came  to  con- 
gratulate the  prisoners  on  their  approaching  release. 
But  the  happy  day  being  still  postponed,  the  Jaco- 
bites became  turbulent  once  more ;  Mr.  Pitt,  the  old 
governor,  who  had  been  tried  for  neglect  in  allow- 
ing Mr.  Forster  and  others  to  escape,  had  been  ac- 
quitted, upon  which  the  lord  mayor  and  sheriffs 
recalled  Messrs.  Carleton  Smith  and  Russell.  The 
latter  delivered  up  their  charge,  "  having  performed 
it  so  well  that  not  one  prisoner  had  escaped."  But 
Mr.  Pitt  was  again  unfortunate;  and  suffering 
another  man  (Flint)  to  escape,  the  court  of  alder- 
men resolved  to  reinstate  Smith  and  Russell.  This 
gave  great  dudgeon  to  the  rebels  in  the  press-yard, 
who  soon  proved  very  refractory,  refusing  to  be 


146  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

locked  up  at  the  proper  time.  Then  they  made  bitter 
reflections  on  the  advice  given  to  tlie  new  keepers  in 
the  Flying  Post,  a  Whiggish  organ,  who  were,  as 
the  author  of  the  "  Secret  History "  observes 
sarcastically,  "  so  inhuman,  that  they  would  let  none 
of  the  rebels  make  their  escape,  either  in  the  habits 
of  women,  footmen,  or  parsons."  It  was  difficult 
for  the  keepers  not  to  give  cause  of  offence.  Their 
prisoners  were  angry  with  them  because  they  would 
not  sit  down  and  drink  with  them,  as  did  their 
former  keepers,  even  upon  the  bribe  offered  when 
the  indemnity  loomed  large,  of  swallowing  a  bumper 
to  King  George.  Captain  Silk  was  troublesome  as 
ever.  One  Sunday  he  cursed  and  swore  prodi- 
giously because  the  doors  had  been  shut  during 
divine  service,  and  his  roaring  companions  could 
not  have  access  to  him.  Another  time  the  prisoners 
insulted  the  keepers,  asking  them  why  they  carried 
arms?  The  Jacobites  declared  they  could  not  en- 
dure the  sight  since  the  battle  of  Preston. 

Another  prisoner  added  greatly  to  the  trials  of  the 
keepers  about  this  period.  This  was  Mr.  Freeman, 
who  was  committed  for  firing  a  pistol  in  the  play- 
house when  the  prince  was  present.  Freeman  was 
continually  intoxicated  when  in  gaol.  He  was  also 
very  mischievous,  and  kept  a  burning  candle  by 
him  the  greater  part  of  the  night,  to  the  danger  of 
the  prison,  especially  when  in  his  mad  freaks.  "  He 
is  a  lusty,  strong,  raw-boned  man,  has  a  stern, 
dogged  look,  is  of  an  obstinate  temper  when  vexed, 


THE    PRESS -YARD 


147 


but  fawning  and  treacherous  when  pleased."  In  a 
day  of  two  Freeman  showed  the  cloven  foot.  He 
flew  into  a  violent  passion,  and  beat  one  of  the 
female  servants  of  the  prison,  shutting  the  door 
against  the  keepers,  after  he  had  wounded  one  of 
them  with  a  fork  which  he  held  in  one  hand,  having 
a  knife  and  pistol  in  the  other.  He  was  over- 
powered, and  carried  to  the  condemned  hold,  where 
he  was  put  in  ifons.  His  villainous  designs  there 
appeared  by  his  setting  his  handkerchief  alight,  and 
concealing  it  in  his  hat  near  his  bed,  and  it  was 
suspected  that  he  wished  to  set  the  gaol  on  fire,  so 
that  the  prisoners  might  have  the  opportunity  to 
escape.  A  day  later  Mr.  Freeman  "  regretted  that 
he  had  not  murdered  his  keeper  in  the  last  scuffle;  " 
and  the  same  day  Mr.  Menzies  and  Mr.  Nairn  did 
honestly  tell  the  keepers  that  the  prisoners  meant 
to  injure  them,  Freeman's  disturbance  having  been 
raised  "  chiefly  to  that  end,  and  that  the  female 
servant  he  only  pretended  to  assault,  so  as  to  make 
her  cry  out  murder  before  she  was  in  the  least 
hurt." 

Royal  clemency  was  still  delayed,  and  the  ad- 
vancing summer  of  171 7  was  intensely  hot.  The 
close  confinement  of  so  many  persons  in  a  limited 
space  began  to  tell  seriously  on  the  prisoners.  A 
spotted  fever,  which  had  before  shown  itself  with 
evil  eflFects,  reappeared.  It  had  proved  fatal  to 
Mr.  Pitcairn  the  previous  August,  and  in  the  winter 
Mr.  Butler  had  died  of  the  same.     Now  it  carried 


148  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

off  Mr.  Kellet,  Sir  Francis  Anderson's  man.  Mr. 
Thornton  was  also  attacked,  but  through  the  care 
of  his  doctors  recovered.  The  following  month 
Mr.  David  Drummond  died,  and  Mr.  Ratcliffe  was 
indisposed.  It  was  generally  feared  that  the  dis- 
temper would  become  contagious;  whereupon  some 
of  the  principal  inmates,  among  them  Mr.  Ratcliffe, 
the  two  Mr.  Widdingtons,  Mr.  Murray,  and  Mr. 
Seaton,  "  who  is  styled  by  them  the  Earl  of  Dum- 
ferline,"  petitioned  the  prince  regent  and  Council 
for  enlargement  to  more  commodious  prisons.  The 
king's  physicians  were  accordingly  despatched  to 
the  prison  to  inquire  into  its  sanitary  condition. 
Their  report  was  that  no  contagious  distemper 
existed.  The  matter  was  therefore  ordered  to  stand 
until  his  Majesty's  pleasure  should  be  known  at  his 
arrival  from  Hanover.  George  I  soon  afterwards 
returned,  and  signified  his  orders  for  an  Act  of 
Grace,  which  duly  passed  both  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

The  news  of  an  amnesty  was  joyfully  received 
in  the  press-yard.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the 
prisoners  so  soon  to  be  set  free  was  to  get  in  a  poor 
fiddler,  "  whom  they  set  to  play  tunes  adapted  to 
their  treasonable  ballads;  .  .  .  but  this  was  so 
shocking  to  the  keepers  that  they  turned  the  fiddler 
out."  Next  the  prisoners  had  a  badger  brought  in, 
and  baited  him  with  dogs.  Other  already  pardoned 
rebels  came  and  paid  ceremonious  visits,  such  as 
Mr.  Townley,  who  appeared  with  much  pomp  and 


THE    PRESS -YARD  149 

splendour  after  his  discharge  from  the  Marshalsea. 
Several  clergymen  also  visited,  and  a  noted  common 
council  man,  whose  friends  stood  a  bowl  of  punch 
that  night  in  Captain  Silk's  room.  The  State 
prisoners  were  soon  "  very  busy  in  getting  new 
rigging,  and  sending  away  their  boxes  and  trunks; 
so  that  they  looked  like  so  many  people  removing 
from  their  lodgings  and  houses  on  quarter-day." 

On  July  4th  a  member  of  Parliament  came  to 
assure  Mr,  Grierson  that  the  Act  of  Indemnity 
would  surely  pass  in  a  few  days.  This  occasioned 
great  joy.  A  fortnight  later  the  pardon  was 
promulgated,  and  all  the  prisoners  remaining  were 
taken  to  Westminster  to  plead  the  Act,  "  where 
many  were  so  very  ungrateful  that  they  refused  to 
kneel  or  speak  out  in  asking  the  king's  pardon  till 
they  were  forced  to  it," 

According  to  this  last-quoted  writer,  the  rebels 
in  Newgate  were  not  of  exemplary  character. 
Their  daily  practice  in  prison  was  profane  swear- 
ing, drunkenness,  gluttony,  gaming,  and  lascivious- 
ness.  That  such  was  permitted  speaks  volumes  as 
to  the  shameful  negligence  of  prison  rule  in  those 
unsettled  times. 

There  were  other  rebel  prisoners,  who  do  not 
seem  to  have  benefited  by  this  Act  of  Grace,  and 
who  remained  much  longer  in  prison.  It  is  recorded 
in  the  Weekly  Journal,  of  January  24th,  1727,  that 
George  I  had  pardoned  another  batch  of  Jacobites, 
who  had  been  capitally  convicted  in  the  first  year 


ISO 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


of  his  reign  for  levying  war  against  him.  The 
pardoned  traitors  were  Robert  Stuart,  of  Appin; 
Alexander  Macdonald,  of  Glencoe;  Grant,  of  Glen- 
morrison;  Maclimmin,  of  that  Ilk;  Mackenzie,  of 
Fairbiirn;  Mackenzie,  of  Dachmalnack;  Chisholm, 
of  Shatglass;  Mackenzie,  of  Ballumakie;  Mac- 
Dougal,  of  Lome;  and  two  others,  more  notable 
than  all  the  rest,  *'  James,  commonly  called  Lord, 
Ogilvie,"  and  "  Robert  Campbell,  alias  Macgregor, 
commonly  called  Rob  Roy."  They  had  been  under 
durance  in  London,  for  it  is  added  that  "  on  Tues- 
day last  they  were  carried  from  Newgate  to  Graves- 
end,  to  be  put  on  shipboard  for  transportation  to 
Barbadoes."  Rob  Roy  marching  handcuffed  to 
Lord  Ogilvie  through  the  London  streets  from 
Newgate  to  the  prison  barge  at  Black  friars,  and 
thence  to  Gravesend,  is  an  incident  that  has  escaped 
the  notice  of  Walter  Scott,  and  all  of  Rob's  biog- 
raphers. The  barge-load  of  Highland  chiefs,  and 
of  some  thieves,  seems,  however,  to  have  been  par- 
doned, and  allowed  to  return  home. 

Before  leaving  the  press-yard  some  reference 
must  be  made  to  certain  political  "  suspects  "  who 
were  lodged  therein  for  terms  varying  from  nine- 
teen to  forty  years.  Their  case  is  remarkable,  as 
being  the  last  instance  of  the  suspension  of  the 
Habeas  Corpus  Act  in  England,  with  the  full  knowl- 
edge and  sanction  of  Parliament,  and  in  spite  of 
repeated  strongly  urged  petitions  from  the  prisoners 
for    release.      Their   names    were   John    Bernardi, 


THE    PRESS -YARD  151 

Robert  Cassilis,  Robert  Meldrum,  Robert  Black- 
burne,  and  James  Chambers.  Of  these,  the  first- 
named,  Major  Bernard!,  has  told  his  own  story  in  a 
volume  penned  in  Newgate,  and  "  printed  by  J. 
Newcomb,  in  the  Strand,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
author,  1729."  Macaulay  is  disposed  to  discredit 
the  version  given  by  Bernardi,  although  there  is  a 
certain  air  of  truthfulness  in  the  prisoner's  narra- 
tive. Bernardi  begins  at  the  beginning.  He  was 
of  Italian  extraction,  he  tells  us.  His  ancestors 
had  been  in  the  diplomatic  service.  Count  Philip  de 
Bernardi,  his  grandfather,  came  to  England  with 
a  Genoese  embassy.  Francis  Bernardi,  son  of  the 
former,  and  father  of  Major  John,  was  also  ac- 
credited to  Charles  H  on  the  restoration,  but  when 
replaced  as  resident,  being  English  born,  he  pre- 
ferred to  live  and  die  in  the  land  of  his  birth.  Ac- 
cording to  his  son,  he  was  a  stern  parent,  ready  to 
award  him  penal  treatment,  with  imprisonment  for 
trifles,  "  in  a  little  dark  room  or  dungeon,  allowing 
only  bread  and  small  beer  when  so  confined."  By 
and  by  John  ran  away  from  home,  and  through  the 
favour  of  Lady  Fisher  was  employed  as  a  "  listed 
soldier  "  in  a  company  at  Portsmouth  when  barely 
fifteen  years  of  age.  A  year  or  two  later  his  god- 
father, Colonel  Anselme,  took  him  to  the  Low 
Countries,  where  by  gallant  conduct  in  the  wars  he 
gained  an  ensigncy  from  the  Prince  of  Orange.  At 
the  siege  of  Maestricht  he  lost  an  eye,  and  was 
badly  wounded  in  the  arm.     When  scarcely  twenty 


152  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

he  was  promoted  to  a  lieutenancy,  and  eight  years 
later  obtained  a  company  in  Colonel  Monk's  regi- 
ment. He  was  now,  by  his  own  account,  arrived 
"  at  a  high  pitch  of  fortune."  He  was  a  captain  at 
twenty-seven  in  an  established  service,  was  person- 
ally well  known  to  the  Prince  of  Orange  (after- 
wards William  HI),  had  married  well,  and  was, 
with  his  wife's  fortune,  in  the  receipt  of  "  a  con- 
siderable income." 

James  H,  on  coming  to  the  throne,  summoned 
home  all  English  officers  in  the  service  of  the  States. 
Among  the  few  who  obeyed  was  Major  Bernard!, 
and  he  then  gave  up,  as  he  says,  a  certainty  for  an 
uncertainty.  Very  soon  his  former  chief,  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  replaced  James  upon  the  throne,  and 
Bernardi,  unfortunately  for  himself,  thereafter 
espoused  the  wrong  side.  He  refused  to  sign  the 
"  association  put  about  by  General  Kirk,"  under 
which  all  officers  bound  themselves  to  stand  by 
William  "  against  all  persons  whomsoever,"  and 
proceeded  to  France  to  throw  in  his  lot  with  the 
exiled  king.  When  James  embarked  for  Ireland, 
Bernardi  followed  in  command  of  a  party  of  newly 
organized  adherents.  He  was  at  several  of  the 
engagements  in  that  island,  and  was  presently  com- 
missioned major.  After  that  he  went  to  the  High- 
lands with  Seaforth  Mackenzie  on  a  special  mission, 
and  on  his  return  had  the  honour  of  dining  at  the 
same  table  with  King  James.  A  second  mission 
to  Scotland  followed,  after  which  Bernardi  made 


THE    PRESS -YARD  153 

his  way  south,  and  escaping  great  perils  by  the  way, 
reached  London,  meaning,  when  he  had  disposed  of 
horses  and  effects,  to  cross  over  to  Flanders.  At 
Colchester,  however,  from  which  he  hoped  to  reach 
easily  a  port  of  embarkation,  he  was  seized  and  com- 
mitted on  suspicion,  first  to  the  town  gaol,  then  to 
that  of  Chelmsford.  After  being  much  harassed  he 
at  length  obtained  his  release,  only  to  be  soon  in- 
volved in  still  greater  trouble. 

To  his  great  misfortune  he  now  fell  in  with  one 
Captain  Rookwood.  It  was  about  the  time  of  the 
discovery  of  the  assassination  plot,  of  which  Major 
Bernardi  declares  that  he  was  in  absolute  ignorance 
till  he  heard  of  it  like  the  rest  of  the  world.  He  was 
by  chance  in  the  company  of  Captain  Rookwood 
at  a  tavern,  and  was  with  him  arrested  on  suspicion 
of  being  "  evil-minded  men."  While  in  the 
Compter  Rookwood  incautiously  revealed  his  own 
identity,  and  was  lost.  Rookwood  seems  at  the  same 
time  to  have  unintentionally  betrayed  Bernardi, 
whose  name  had,  it  appears,  and  in  spite  of  his  pro- 
testations of  perfect  innocence,  been  included  in  a 
proclamation.  The  inference  is  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  in  the  possession  of  certain  information 
that  Bernardi  was  mixed  up  in  the  plot.^  Both  men 
were  carried  before  the  Council,  and  committed 
close  prisoners  to  Newgate,   "  loaded   with  heavy 

*  According  to  the  deposition  of  Harris,  the  informer,  Ber- 
nardi came  with  Rookwood  to  London  on  purpose  to  meet 
Barclay,   the   chief   conspirator. 


154 


CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 


irons,  and  put  into  separate  dismal,  dark,  and  stink- 
ing apartments."  Rookwood  was  speedily  con- 
demned and  executed  at  Tyburn.  Bernard!  re- 
mained in  prison  without  trial,  until  after  Sir  John 
Fenwick  had  suffered.  Then  with  his  fellow 
prisoners  he  was  taken  to  the  Old  Bailey  to  be 
bailed  out,  but  at  the  instance  of  the  Treasury 
solicitor,  who  "  whispered  the  judges  upon  the 
bench,''  they  were  relegated  to  Newgate,  and  a 
special  act  passed  rapidly  through  the  House  to  keep 
them  for  another  twelvemonth  on  the  plea  of  wait- 
ing for  further  evidence  against  them.  A  second 
act  was  passed  prolonging  the  imprisonment  for 
another  year;  then  a  third,  to  confine  them  during 
the  king's  pleasure.  On  the  death  of  the  king 
(Wililam  III),  a  fresh  act  extended  the  imprison- 
ment during  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne.  During 
this  long  lapse  of  time  repeated  applications  were 
made  to  judges,  but  the  release  of  the  prisoners 
was  always  bitterly  opposed  by  the  law  officers. 
Bernardi's  doctors  certified  that  imprisonment  was 
killing  him-;  he  was  said  to  suffer  from  fits  and 
the  constant  trouble  of  an  old  wound.  Nevertheless 
he  lived  on ;  and  when  in  his  sixty-eighth  year  he 
married,  in  Newgate,  a  second,  "  virtuous,  kind, 
and  loving  wife,  who  proved  a  true  helpmeet," 
supporting  him  by  her  good  management,  and 
keeping  his  heart  from  breaking  in  the  "  English 
Bastile."  Bemardi  had  ten  children  born  in  New- 
gate of  this  second  wife.     The  imprisonment  con- 


THE    PRESS -YARD 


155 


tinued  through  the  reigns  of  George  I  and  II. 
Frequent  petitions  were  unheeded,  and  finally 
Bernardi  died  in  Newgate  in  1736,  the  last  survivor, 
after  forty  years'  incarceration,  and  aged  eighty- 
two. 


CHAPTER    VI 

NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 

Reasons  for  legal  punishments  —  Early  forms  —  Capital 
punishment  universal  —  Methods  of  inflicting  death  —  Aw- 
ful cruelties  —  The  English  custom — Pressing  to  death — ■ 
Abolition  of  this  punishment  —  Decapitation  and  strangu- 
lation—  The  guillotine  and  gallows  —  Smithfield,  St.  Giles, 
Tower  Hill,  Tyburn  —  Derivation  of  Tyburn  —  An  execu- 
tion in  1662  —  Fashionable  folk  attend  —  George  Selwyn  — 
Breakfast  party  at  Newgate  —  Ribald  conduct  of  the  mob 
at  executions  —  Demeanour  of  condemned :  effrontery,  or 
abject  terror  —  Improper  customs  long  retained  —  St 
Giles's  Bowl  —  Saddler  of  Bawtry  —  Smoking  at  Tyburn  — 
Richard  Dove's  bequest  —  The  hangman  and  his  office  — 
Resuscitation  —  Sir  William  Petty's  operation  —  Tyburn 
procession  continues  —  Supported  by  Doctor  Johnson  —  The 
front  of  Newgate  substituted  as  the  scene  of  execution. 

The  universal  instinct  of  se]f-preser\'ation  under- 
lies the  whole  theory  of  leg-al  punishments.  Society, 
from  the  earliest  bej^innings,  has  claimed  throucfh 
its  rulers  to  inflict  penalties  upon  those  who  have 
broken  the  laws  framed  for  the  protection  of  all. 
These  penalties  have  varied  gfreatly  in  all  as^es  and 
in  all  times.  They  have  been  based  on  different 
principles.  Many,  especially  in  ruder  and  earlier 
times,  have  been  conceived  in  a  vindictive  spirit; 

156 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  157 

others,  notably  those  of  Mosaic  law,  were  retalia- 
tory, or  aimed  at  restitution.  All,  more  or  less, 
were  intended  to  deter  from  crime.  The  criminal 
had  generally  to  pay  in  his  person  or  his  goods.  He 
was  either  subjected  to  physical  pain  applied  in  de- 
grading, often  ferociously  cruel  ways,  and  endured 
mutilation,  or  was  branded,  tortured,  put  to  death; 
he  was  mulcted  in  fines,  deprived  of  liberty,  or 
adjudged  as  a  slave  to  indemnify  by  manual  labour 
those  whom  he  had  wronged.  Imprisonment  as 
practised  in  modern  times  has  followed  from  the 
last-named  class  of  punishments.  Although  affect- 
ing the  individual,  and  in  many  of  its  phases  with 
brutal  and  reckless  disregard  for  human  suffering, 
it  can  hardly  be  styled  a  purely  personal  punish- 
ment, as  will  be  shown  from  a  closer  examination 
of  the  various  methods  of  corporeal  punishment. 

In  sharp  contrast  with  the  privations  and  terrible 
discomforts  of  the  poorer  sort  was  the  wild  revelry 
of  the  aristocratic  prisoners  of  the  press-yard.  They 
had  ever)--  luxury  to  be  bought  with  money,  free- 
dom alone  Excepted,  and  that  was  often  to  be  com- 
passed by  bribing  dishonest  officials  to  suffer  them 
to  escape. 

Taking  first  the  punishments  which  fell  short 
of  death,  those  most  common  in  England,  until 
comparatively  recent  times,  were  branding,  mutila- 
tion, dismemberment,  whipping,  and  degrading 
public  exposure.  Branding  was  often  carried  out 
with  circumstances  of  atrocious  barbarity.     Vaga- 


158  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

bonds  were  marked  with  the  letter  V,  idlers  and 
masterless  men  with  the  letter  S,  betokening  a  con- 
demnation to  slavery;  any  church  brawler  lost  his 
ears,  and  for  a  second  offence  might  be  branded 
with  the  letter  F,  as  a  "  fraymaker  "'  and  fighter. 
Sometimes  the  penalty  was  to  bore  a  hole  of  the 
compass  of  an  inch  through  the  gristle  of  the  right 
ear.  Branding  was  the  commutation  of  a  capital 
sentence  on  clerk  convicts,  or  persons  allowed  benefit 
of  clergy,  and  it  was  inflicted  upon  the  brawn  of  the 
left  thumb,  the  letter  M  being  used  in  murder  cases, 
the  letter  T  in  others.  In  the  reign  of  William  and 
Mary,  when  the  privilege  of  benefit  of  clergy  was 
found  to  be  greatly  abused,  an  act  was  passed,  by 
which  the  culprit  was  branded  or  "  burnt  in  the  most 
visible  part  of  the  left  cheek  nearest  the  nose." 
Mutilation  was  an  ancient  Saxon  punishment,  no 
doubt  perpetuating  the  Mosaic  law  of  retaliation 
which  claimed  an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth, 
a  limb  for  a  limb.  William  the  Conqueror  adopted 
it  in  his  penal  code.  It  was  long  put  in  force  against 
those  who  broke  the  forestry  laws,  coiners,  thieves, 
and  such  as  failed  to  prove  their  innocence  by  ordeal. 
Although  almost  abandoned  by  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  penalty  of  mutilation,  extending 
to  the  loss  of  the  right  hand,  still  continued  to  be 
punishment  for  murder  and  bloodshed  within  the 
limits  of  a  royal  residence.  The  most  elaborate 
ceremonial  was  observed.  All  the  hierarchy  of 
court  officials  attended;  there  was  the  sergeant  of 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


159 


the  wood-yard,  the  master  cook  to  hand  the  dress- 
ing-knife, the  sergeant  of  the  poultry,  the  yeoman 
of  the  scullery  with  a  fire  of  coals,  the  sergeant 
farrier,  who  heated  and  delivered  the  searing  irons, 
which  were  applied  by  the  chief  surgeon  after  the 
dismemberment  had  been  effected.  Vinegar,  basin, 
and  cloths  were  handed  to  the  operator  by  the 
groom  of  the  salcery,  the  sergeant  of  the  ewry,  and 
the  yeoman  of  the  chandrey.  "  After  the  hand  had 
been  struck  off  and  the  stump  seared,  the  sergeant 
of  the  pantry  offered  bread,  and  the  sergeant  of  the 
cellar  a  pot  of  red  wine,  of  which  the  sufferer  was 
to  partake  with  what  appetite  he  might."  Readers 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott  will  remember  how  Nigel  Oli- 
faunt,  in  the  "  Fortunes  of  Nigel,"  was  threatened 
with  the  loss  of  his  hand  for  having  committed  a 
breach  of  privilege  in  the  palace  of  Greenwich  and 
its  precincts.  Pistols  are  found  on  his  person  when 
he  acidentally  meets  and  accosts  James  I.  For  the 
offence  he  may  be  prosecuted,  so  Sir  Mungo  Mala- 
growther  complacently  informs  him,  usque  ad  muti- 
lationcm,  "  even  to  dismemberation." 

The  occasion  serves  the  garrulous  knight  to  refer 
to  a  recent  performance,  "  a  pretty  pageant  when 
Stubbs,  the  Puritan,  was  sentenced  to  mutilation 
for  writing  and  publishing  a  seditious  pamphlet 
against  Elizabeth,  With  Stubbs,  Page,  the  pub- 
lisher, also  suffered.  They  lost  their  right  hands," 
the  wrist  being  divided  by  a  cleaver  driven  through 
the  joint  by  the  force  of  a  mallet. 


i6o  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

"  I  remember,"  says  the  historian  Camden,  "  be- 
ing then  present,  that  Stubbs,  when  his  right  hand 
was  cut  off,  phicked  off  his  hat  with  his  left,  and 
said  with  a  loud  voice,  '  God  save  the  queen.'  The 
multitude  standing  about  was  deeply  silent,  either 
out  of  horror  of  this  new  and  unwonted  kind  of 
punishment,  or  out  of  commiseration  towards  the 
man.  .  .  ,"  The  process  of  mutilation  was  at 
times  left  to  the  agonized  action  of  the  culprit :  as 
in  the  brutal  case  of  one  Penedo,  who  in  1570,  for 
counterfeiting  the  seal  of  the  Court  of  Queen's 
Bench,  was  twice  put  in  the  pillory  on  market-day 
in  Cheapside.  The  first  day  one  of  his  ears  was 
to  be  nailed  to  the  pillory  in  such  a  manner  that  he 
should  be  compelled  "  by  his  own  proper  motion  " 
to  tear  it  away ;  and  on  the  second  day  he  was  to  lose 
his  other  ear  in  the  same  cruel  fashion,  William 
Prynne,  it  will  be  remembered,  also  lost  his  ears  on 
the  pillory,  but  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner. 
The  Earl  of  Dorset,  in  giving  the  sentence  of  the 
Star  Chamber  Court,  asked  his  fellow  judges 
"  whether  he  should  burn  him  in  the  forehead,  or 
slit  him  in  the  nose?  ...  I  should  be  loth  he 
should  escape  with  his  ears;  .  .  .  therefore  I 
would  have  him  branded  in  the  forehead,  slit  in  the 
nose,  and  his  ears  cropt  too."  Having  suffered  all 
this  on  the  pillory,  he  was  again  punished  three 
years  later,  when  he  lost  the  remainder  of  his  ears, 
and  was  branded  with  the  letters  S.  L.  (seditious 
libeller)  on  each  cheek.    Doctor  Bastwick  and  others 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  i6i 

were  similarly  treated.  Doctor  Bastwick's  daughter, 
Mrs.  Poe,  after  his  ears  were  cut  off,  called  for 
them,  put  them  in  a  clean  handkerchief,  and  carried 
them  away  with  her.  Prynne  was  a  voluminous 
writer,  and  is  said  to  have  produced  some  two  hun- 
dred volumes  in  all.  A  contemporary,  who  saw 
him  in  the  pillory  at  Cheapside,  says  that  they 
burned  his  huge  volumes  under  his  nose,  which 
almost  suffocated  him. 

Although  mutilations  and  floggings  were  fre- 
quently carried  out  at  the  pillory,  that  well-known 
machine  was  primarily  intended  as  a  means  of  pain- 
ful and  degrading  exposure,  and  not  for  the  in- 
fliction of  physical  torture.  The  pillory  is  said  to 
have  existed  in  England  before  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, and  it  probably  dates  from  times  much  more 
remote.  The  €T7;\j7  of  the  Greeks,  the  pillar  on 
v/hich  offenders  were  publicly  exhibited,  seems  to 
have  been  akin  to  the  pillory,  just  as  the  Kv(f>cov, 
or  wooden  collar,  was  the  prototype  of  the  French 
carcan  or  iron  circlet  which  was  riveted  around  the 
culprit's  neck,  and  attached  by  a  chain  to  the  post  or 
pillory.  In  England  the  pillory  or  "  stretch  neck  " 
was  at  first  applied  only  to  fraudulent  traders,  per- 
jurers, forgers,  and  so  forth ;  but  as  years  passed 
it  came  to  be  more  exclusively  the  punishment  of 
those  guilty  of  infamous  crimes,  amongst  whom 
were  long  included  rash  writers  who  dared  to  ex- 
press their  opinions  too  freely  before  the  days  of 
freedom  of  the  press.     Besides  Prynne,  Leighton, 


i62  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Burton,  Warton,  and  Bastwick,  intrepid  John 
Lilburne  also  suffered,  under  the  Star  Chamber  de- 
cree, which  prohibited  the  printing  of  any  book 
without  a  hcense  from  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, the  Bishop  of  London,  or  the  authorities  of 
the  two  universities.  Daniel  Defoe,  again,  was 
pilloried  in  1703  for  his  pamphlet,  "The  Shortest 
Way  with  the  Dissenters."  Defoe  gave  himself  up, 
and  was  pilloried  first  in  Cheapside,  and  afterwards 
in  the  Temple.  The  mob  so  completely  sym- 
pathized with  him,  that  they  covered  him  with 
flowers,  drank  his  health,  and  sang  his  *'  Ode  to  the 
Pillory  "  in  chorus.  Doctor  Shebbeare  was  pilloried 
in  1759,  for  his  "  Letters  to  the  People  of  England." 
But  he  found  a  friend  in  the  under-sheriff,  Mr. 
Beardmore,  who  took  him  to  the  place  of  penitence, 
in  a  stage-coach,  and  allowed  a  footman  in  rich 
livery  to  hold  an  umbrella  over  the  doctor's  head, 
as  he  stood  in  the  pillory.  Beardmore  was  after- 
wards arraigned  for  neglect  of  duty,  found  guilty, 
and  sentenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment. 

In  1765,  Williams,  the  publisher,  who  reprinted 
Wilkes's  North  Briton,  stood  in  the  pillory  in 
Palace  Yard  for  an  hour.  For  the  moment  he  be- 
came popular.  He  arrived  in  a  hackney-coach  num- 
bered  45,^    attended   by   a   vast   crowd.      He   was 

*  No.  45  of  the  North  Briton  charged  the  king  with  false- 
hood, and  was  the  basis  of  the  prosecutions ;  forty-five  be- 
came in  consequence  a  popular  number  with  the  patriots. 
Tradesmen    called    their    goods    "  forty-five ; "    and    snuff    so 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  163 

cheered  vociferously  as  he  mounted  the  pillory  with 
a  sprig  of  laurel  in  each  hand;  and  a  gentleman 
present  made  a  collection  of  two  hundred  guineas 
for  him  in  a  purple  purse  adorned  with  orange 
ribbons.  In  front  of  the  pillory  the  mob  erected 
a  gallows,  and  hung  on  it  a  boot,  with  other  em- 
blems, intended  to  gibbet  the  unpopular  minister 
Lord  Bute,  Williams  was  conducted  from  the 
pillory  amid  renewed  acclamations,  and  the  excite- 
ment lasted  for  some  days.  Lampoons  and  carica- 
tures were  widely  circulated.  Several  street  ballads 
were  also  composed,  one  of  which  began : 

"Ye  sons  of  Wilkes  and  Liberty, 

Who  hate  despotic  sway, 
The  glorious  Forty-Five  now  crowns 

This  memorable  day. 
And  to  New  Palace  Yard  let  us  go,  let  us  go." 

Lord  Dundonald  in  181 4  was  actually  sentenced 
to  the  pillory,  but  the  Government  shrank  from 
inflicting  the  punishment  upon  that  much  wronged 
naval  hero.  The  pillory  ceased  to  be  a  punishment, 
except  for  perjury,  in  18 15,  but  was  not  finally 
abolished  until  1837,  and  as  late  as  1830  one  Doctor 
Bossy  suffered  on  it  for  perjury. 

The  earliest  form  of  pillory  was  simply  a  post 
erected  in  a  cross-road  by  the  lord  of  the  manor,  as 

styled  was  sold  in  Fleet  Street  for  many  years.  Home  Tooke 
declares  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  aggravated  his  august 
father,  when  the  latter  was  flogging  him,  by  shouting  "  Wilkes 
and  forty-five  for  ever !  " 


i64  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

a  mark  of  his  seigneury.^  It  bore  his  arms,  and 
on  it  was  a  collar,  the  carcan  already  mentioned, 
by  which  culprits  were  secured.  This  was  in  course 
of  time  developed,  and  the  pillory  became  a  cross- 
piece  of  wood  fixed  like  a  sign-board  at  the  top  of 
a  pole,  and  placed  upon  an  elevated  platform.  In 
this  cross  were  three  holes,  one  for  the  head,  the 
other  two  for  the  wrists.  The  cross-piece  was 
in  two  halves,  the  upper  turning  on  a  hinge  to 
admit  the  culprit's  head  and  hands,  and  closed  with 
a  padlock  when  the  operation  of  insertion  was  com- 
pleted. A  more  elaborate  affair,  capable  of  accom- 
modating a  number  of  persons,  is  figured  in  mediae- 
val woodcuts,  but  this  sort  of  pillory  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  very  generally  used.  The  curious 
observer  may  still  see  specimens  in  England  of  this 
w^ell-known  instrument  of  penal  discipline :  one  is 
preserved  in  the  parish  church  of  Rye,  Sussex,  an- 
other is  in  the  museum  at  Brighton. 

The  stocks  served  like  the  pillory  to  hold  up 
offenders  to  public  infamy.  The  first  authentic 
mention  of  them  is  in  a  statute  of  Edward  III,  by 
which  they  were  to  be  applied  to  unruly  labourers. 
Soon  after  this  they  were  established  by  law  in 
every  village,  often  near  the  parish  church.  They 
were  the  punishment  for  brawling,  drunkenness, 
vagrancy,    and    all    disorderly    conduct.       Wood- 

*  Lords  of  Leet  were  obliged  to  keep  up  a  pillory  or  tum- 
brel, on  pain  of  forfeiture  of  the  leet;  and  villages  might 
also  be  compelled  to  provide  them. 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  165 

stealers  or  "  hedge-tearers  "  were  set  in  the  stocks, 
about  the  year  1584,  for  a  couple  of  days  with  the 
stolen  wood  in  front  of  them. 

The  story  goes  that  Cardinal  Wolsey,  when  a 
young  parish  priest,  was  put  in  the  stocks  at 
Lymington  by  Sir  Amyas  Poulett,  for  having  "  ex- 
ceeded "  at  a  village  feast.  The  old  "  Chap  "  books 
contain  numerous  references  to  the  stocks  of  course. 
Welch  Taffy,  "  the  unfortunate  traveller,"  was  put 
into  the  stocks  for  calling  a  justice  of  the  peace  a 
"boobie;"  and  "Simple  Simon,"  when  he  inter- 
fered in  a  butter-woman's  quarrel,  was  adjudged  to 
be  drunk  and  put  into  the  stocks  between  the  two 
viragoes,  who  scolded  him  all  the  time.  The  story 
of  Lord  Camden  is  probably  well  known.  When  a 
young  barrister  he  had  a  desire  to  try  the  stocks, 
and  was  left  in  them  by  an  absent-minded  friend, 
for  the  greater  part  of  the  day.  The  last  stocks  in 
London  were  those  of  St,  Clement's  Dane's  in 
Portugal  Street,  which  were  removed  in  1826,  to 
make  way  for  local  improvements.  As  late  as  i860 
one  John  Gambles  of  Stanningly  was  sentenced  to 
sit  in  the  stocks  for  six  hours  for  Sunday  gambling, 
and  actually  endured  his  punishment.^  Stocks  were 
last  to  be  seen  at  Heath  near  Wakefield,  Painswick 
in  Gloucestershire,  and  other  places.  In  all  cases 
the  physical  discomfort  of  the  stocks,  no  less  than 
that  of  the  pillory,  was  generally  aggravated  by  the 

* "  Punishments  in  the  Olden  Time,"  by  William  Andrews, 
F.  R.  H.  S.,  to  which  I  am  indebted  for  many  of  my  facts. 


i66  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

rude  horse-play  of  a  jeering  and  actively  offensive 
mob.  A  reference  to  the  inconvenient  attentions  of 
the  bystanders  at  such  an  exhibition  will  be  found  in 
an  old  "  Chap  "  book,  entitled  "  The  True  Trial  of 
the  Understanding,"  in  which  among  other  riddles 
the  following  is  given  : 

"  Promotion  lately  was  bestowed 

Upon  a  person  mean  and  small: 
Then  many  persons  to  him  flowed, 

Yet  he  returned  no  thanks  at  all. 
But  yet  their  hands  were  ready  still 
To  help   him  with   their  kind  good-will." 

The  answer  is,  a  man  pelted  in  the  pillory. 

Worse  sometimes  happened,  and  in  several  cases 
death  ensued  from  ill-usage  in  the  pillory.  Thus 
when  John  Waller,  alias  Trevor,  was  pilloried  in 
1732,  in  Seven  Dials,  for  falsely  accusing  innocent 
men,  so  as  to  obtain  the  reward  given  on  the  con- 
viction of  highwaymen,  so  great  was  the  indigna- 
tion of  the  populace  that  they  pelted  him  to  death. 
The  coroner's  inquest  returned  a  verdict  of  wilful 
murder,  but  against  persons  unknown.  In  1763  a 
man  who  stood  in  the  pillory  at  Bow,  for  an  un- 
natural crime,  was  killed  by  the  mob.  Ann  Marrow, 
who  had  been  guilty  of  the  strange  offence  of  dis- 
guising herself  as  a  man,  and  as  such  marrying 
three  different  women,  was  sentenced  to  three 
months'  imprisonment,  and  exposure  on  the  pillory, 
at  Charing  Cross.     So  great  was  the  resentment  of 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  167 

the  populace,  principally  those  of  the  female  sex, 
that  they  pelted  her  till  they  put  out  both  her  eyes.^ 
No  account  of  the  minor  physical  punishments 
formerly  inflicted  would  be  complete  without  ref- 
erence to  the  methods  of  coercing  ill-conditioned 
females.  These  were  mostly  of  the  same  character 
as  the  pillory  and  stocks.  Chief  among  them  was 
the  ducking  or  cucking-stool,  a  scourge  for  scolds, 
and  once  as  common  in  every  parish  as  the  stocks. 
Other  varieties  of  it  were  known  under  the  names  of 
tumbrel,  the  gumstole,  the  triback,  the  trebucket, 
and  the  reive.  It  may  be  described  briefly  as  con- 
sisting of  a  chair  or  seat  fixed  at  the  end  of  a  long 
plank,  which  revolved  on  a  pivot,  and  by  some 
simple  application  of  leverage  upset  the  occupant  of 
the  chair  into  a  pond  or  stream.  Mr.  Cole,  1782, 
describes  one  which  was  hung  to  a  beam  in  the 
middle  of  a  bridge.  The  Leominster  stool,  which  is 
still  preserved,  is  a  plank  upon  a  low  substantial 
framework,  having  the  seat  at  one  end,  and  work- 
ing like  an  ordinary  seesaw  :  that  at  Wooton  Basset 
was  of  the  tumbrel  order,  and  was  a  framework  on 
a  pair  of  wheels,  with  shafts  at  one  end,  the  stool 
being  at  the  other.  In  this,  as  in  the  Leicester 
"  scolding  cart,"  and  other  forms  of  tumbrels,  the 

*This  was  not  an  uncommon  offence.  One  Mary  Hamilton 
was  married  fourteen  times  to  members  of  her  own  sex.  A 
more  inveterate,  but  a  more  natural,  bigamist  was  a  man 
named  Miller,  who  was  pilloried,  in  1790,  for  having  married 
thirty  different  women  on  purpose  to  plunder  them. 


i68  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

culprit  was  paraded  through  the  town  before  immer- 
sion. The  punishment  was  primarily  intended  for 
scolds,  shrews,  and  "  curst  queens,"  but  it  was  also 
applied  to  female  brewers  and  bakers  who  brewed 
bad  ale,  and  sold  bad  bread.  It  was  inflicted  pur- 
suant to  sentence  in  open  court,  but  in  some  parts 
the  bailiffs  had  the  power  within  their  own  jurisdic- 
tions, and  the  right  of  gallows,  tumbrel,  and  pillory 
was  often  claimed  by  lords  of  the  manor.  The 
greatest  antiquity  is  claimed  for  this  sort  of  punish- 
ment. Bowine  declares  that  it  was  used  by  the 
Saxons,  by  whom  it  was  called  "  Cathedra  in  qua 
rixosse  mulieres  sedentes  aquae  demergebantur." 
No  doubt  the  ducking  was  often  roughly  and  cruelly 
carried  out.  We  have  in  the  frontispiece  of  an 
old  "  Chap "  book,  which  relates  how  "  an  old 
woman  was  drowned  in  RatclifTe  highway,"  a 
pictorial  representation  of  the  ceremony  of  ducking, 
and  it  is  stated  that  she  met  her  death  by  being 
dipped  too  often  or  too  long.  That  the  instrument 
was  in  general  use  through  the  kingdom  is  proved 
by  numerous  entries  in  ancient  records.  Thus 
Lysons,  in  his  "  Environs  of  London,"  states  that 
at  a  court  of  the  Manor  of  Edgware  in  1552  the 
inhabitants  were  presented  for  not  having  a  tumbrel 
and  a  ducking-stool  as  laid  down  by  law.  In  the 
Leominster  town  records  the  bailifif  and  chamber- 
lains are  repeatedly  brought  up  and  fined  either  for 
not  providing  "  gumstoles  "  or  not  properly  repair- 
ing them,  while  in  the  same  and  other  records  are 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  169 

numerous  statements  of  bills  paid  to  carpenters  for 
making  or  mending  these  instruments.  The  use  of 
them,  moreover,  was  continued  to  very  recent  times. 
A  vv^oman  was  ducked  under  Kingston  Bridge  in 
1745  for  scolding.  At  Manchester,  Liverpool,  and 
other  Lancashire  towns  the  stool  was  in  use  till  the 
commencement  of  this  century.  So  it  was  at  Scar- 
borough, where  the  offender  was  dipped  into  the 
water  from  the  end  of  the  old  pier.  But  the  latest 
inflictions  seemingly  were  at  Leominster,  where  in 
1809  a  woman  named  Jenny  Pipes  was  paraded  and 
ducked  near  Kerwater  Bridge,  while  another,  Sarah 
Leeke,  was  wheeled  round  the  town  in  181 7,  but 
not  ducked,  the  water  being  too  low. 

The  ducking-stool  was  not  always  an  effectual 
punishment.  It  appears  from  the  records  of  the 
King's  Bench  that  in  the  year  1681  Mrs.  Finch,  a 
notorious  scold,  who  had  been  thrice  ducked  for 
scolding,  was  a  fourth  time  sentenced  for  the  same 
offence,  and  sentenced  to  be  fined  and  imprisoned. 
Other  measures  were  occasionally  taken  which  were 
deemed  safer,  but  which  were  hardly  less  cruel.  The 
"  branks,"  or  bridle,  for  gossips  and  scolds,  was 
often  preferred  to  the  ducking-stool,  which  endan- 
gered the  health,  and,  moreover,  gave  the  culprit's 
tongue  free  play  between  each  dip. 

The  branks  was  a  species  of  iron  mask,  with  a 
gag  so  contrived  as  to  enter  the  mouth  and  forcibly 
hold  down  the  unruly  member.  It  consisted  of  a 
kind  of  crown  or  framework  of  iron,  which  was 


170 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


locked  upon  the  head  and  was  armed  in  front  with 
a  gag,  —  a  plate  or  a  sharp-cutting  knife  or  point. 
Various  specimens  of  this  barbarous  instrument  are 
still  extant  in  local  museums,  that  in  the  Ashmolean 
at  Oxford  being  especially  noticeable,  as  well  as  that 
preserved  in  Doddington  Park,  Lincolnshire.  The 
branks  are  said  to  have  been  the  invention  of  agents 
of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  to  have  been  im- 
ported into  England  from  the  Low  Countries, 
whither  it  had  travelled  from  Spain. 

The  brutality  of  the  stronger  and  governing  to 
the  weaker  and  subject  sex  was  not  limited  to  the 
ducking-stool  and  branks.  It  must  be  remembered 
with  shame  in  this  more  humane  age  that  little 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  women  were  pub- 
licly whipped  at  the  whipping-post  near  the  stocks, 
or  at  any  cart's  tail.  The  fierce  statute  against 
vagrants  of  Henry  VIII's  and  Elizabeth's  reign 
made  no  distinction  of  sex,  and  their  ferocious  prcH 
visions  to  the  effect  that  offenders  "  should  be 
stripped  naked  from  the  middle  upwards,  and 
whipped  till  the  body  should  be  bloody,"  long  con- 
tinued in  force.  Men  with  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren were  flogged  publicly,  and  sometimes  by  the 
order  of  the  clergyman  of  the  parish.  Girls  of 
twelve  and  thirteen,  aged  women  of  sixty,  all  suf- 
fered alike;  women  "distracted,"  in  other  words 
out  of  their  minds,  were  arrested  and  lashed;  so 
were  those  that  had  the  smallpox,  and  all  who 
walked  about  the  country  and  begged.     On  the  first 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


171 


introduction  of  the  treadwheel  in  the  early  decades 
of  the  last  century,  its  use  was  not  restricted  to 
males,  and  women  were  often  made  to  suffer  this 
punishment.  Whipping  females  was  not  abolished 
till  181 7.  The  constable's  charge  for  whipping  was 
fourpence,  but  the  sum  was  increased  latterly  to  a 
shilling.  The  whipping-post  was  often  erected  in 
combination  with  the  stocks.  A  couple  of  iron 
clasps  were  fixed  to  the  upright  which  supported  the 
stocks,  to  take  the  culprit's  hands  and  hold  him 
securely  while  he  was  being  lashed.  A  modification 
of  this  plan  has  long  been  used  at  Newgate  for  the 
infliction  of  corporal  punishment,  and  it  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  old  ward  at  the  back  of  the  middle  yard. 

Ferocious  as  were  most  of  the  methods  I  have 
detailed  of  dealing  with  offenders  against  the  law, 
they  generally,  except  by  accident,  fell  short  of 
death.  Yet  were  there  innumerable  cases  in  those 
uncompromising  and  unenlightened  ages  in  which 
death  alone  would  be  deemed  equal  to  the  offences. 
Rulers  might  be  excused,  perhaps,  if  they  were 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  a  criminal's  blood. 

As  Maine  says,  "  The  punishment  of  death  is  a 
necessity  of  society  in  certain  stages  of  the  civili- 
zing process.  There  is  a  time  when  an  attempt  to 
dispense  with  it  balks  two  of  the  great  instincts 
which  lie  at  the  root  of  all  penal  law.  Without  it 
the  community  neither  feels  that  it  is  suf^ciently 
revenged  on  the  criminal,  nor  thinks  that  the  ex- 
ample of  his  punishment  is  adequate  to  deter  others 


172 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


from  imitating  him."  Hence  all  penal  legislation  in 
the  past  incliuled  some  form  of  inflicting  the  death 
sentence.  These  have  differed  in  all  ages  and  in  all 
climes:  about  some  there  was  a  brutal  simplicity; 
others  have  been  marked  by  great  inventiveness, 
great  ingenuity,  much  refinement  of  cruelty. 
Offenders  have  been  stoned,  beaten,  starved  to 
death ;  they  have  been  flayed  alive,  buried  alive,  cast 
headlong  from  heights,  torn  to  pieces  by  wild  ani- 
mals, broken  on  the  wheel,  crucified,  impaled,  burnt, 
boiled,  beheaded,  strangled,  drowned.  They  have 
been  killed  outright  or  by  inches,  enduring  horrible 
agonies;^  after  death  their  bodies  have  been  dis- 
membered and  disembowelled,  as  a  mark  of  degra- 
dation. Irresponsible  tyrants  went  further  than 
lawgivers  in  devising  pains.  The  Sultan  Mechmed 
cut  men  in  the  middle,  through  the  diaphragm,  thus 
causing  them  to  die  two  deaths  at  once.  It  is  told 
of  Croesus  that  he  caused  a  person  who  had  offended 
him  to  be  scratched  to  death  by  a  friller's  carding- 
combs.  What  the  Vaivod  of  Transylvania  did  to 
the  Polish  leader,  George  Jechel,  may  be  read  in  the 
pages  of  Montaigne.  The  frightful  barbarity  to 
which  he  and  his  followers  were  subjected  need  not 
be  repeated  here. 

The   tender   mercies   of   continental   nations   to- 
wards criminals  may  be  realized  by  a  reference  to 

'  Bernardo  Visconti,  Duke  of  Milan,  in  the  14th  century, 
made  a  capital  punishment,  or  more  exactly  the  act  of  killing, 
last  for  forty  days. 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  173 

one  or  two  of  their  contrivances  for  the  infliction 
of  death.  The  Iron  Coffin  of  Lissa,  for  example, 
wherein  the  convicted  person  lay  for  days  awaiting 
death  from  the  fell  pressure  of  the  heavily  weighted 
lid,  which  slid  down  slowly,  almost  imperceptibly, 
upon  his  helpless  frame;  or  the  Virgin  of  Baden 
Baden,  the  brazen  statue  whose  kiss  meant  death 
with  frightful  tortures,  the  unhappy  culprit  being 
commanded  to  prostrate  himself  and  kiss  the  statue, 
but  as  he  raised  his  lips  a  trap-door  opened  at  his 
feet,  and  he  fell  through  on  to  a  spiked  wheel,  which 
was  set  in  motion  by  his  fall.  There  was  the  cham- 
bre  a  crucer,  a  short  hollow  chest  lined  with  sharp 
stones,  in  which  the  victim  was  packed  and  buried 
alive ;  or  the  "  bernicles,"  a  mattress  which  clutched 
the  sufferer  tight,  while  his  legs  were  broken  by 
heavy  logs  of  wood;  or  the  long  lingering  death  in 
the  iron  cages  of  Louis  XI,  the  occupant  of  which 
could  neither  sit,  stand,  nor  lie  down.  Again,  the 
devilish  tortures  inflicted  upon  the  murderers 
Ravaillac  and  Damiens  caused  a  shudder  throughout 
Europe.  Ravaillac  was  burnt  piecemeal,  flesh  was 
torn  from  him  by  red-hot  pincers,  scalding  oil  and 
molten  lead  were  poured  upon  his  bleeding  wounds, 
he  was  drawn  and  dismembered  by  horses  while  still 
alive,  and  only  received  his  coup  de  grace  from  the 
sticks  and  knives  of  the  hellish  bystanders,  who 
rushed  in  to  finish  more  savagely  what  the  execu- 
tioner had  been  unable  to  complete.  As  for 
Damiens,  the  process  followed  was  identical,  but  the 


174 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


details  preserved  of  an  event  nearer  our  own  time 
are  more  precise  and  revolting.  He  was  fastened 
down  upon  a  platform  by  iron  gyves,  one  across 
his  breast,  the  other  just  above  his  thighs;  his  right 
hand  was  then  burnt  with  brimstone,  he  was  pinched 
with  red-hot  pincers,  after  which  boiling  oil,  molten 
wax,  rosin,  and  lead  were  poured  upon  his  wounds. 
His  limbs  were  next  tightly  tied  with  cords,  a  long 
and  protracted  operation,  during  which  he  must 
have  suffered  renewed  and  exquisite  torture ;  four 
stout,  young,  and  vigorous  horses  were  attached  to 
the  cords,  and  an  attempt  made  to  tear  his  limbs 
asunder,  but  only  with  the  result  of  "  extending  his 
joints  to  a  prodigious  length,"  and  it  was  necessary 
to  second  the  efforts  of  the  horses  by  cutting  the 
principal  sinews  of  the  sufferer.  Soon  after  this 
the  victim  expired.  Then  his  body  was  burnt  and 
the  ashes  scattered  to  the  winds. 

In  this  country  the  simpler  forms  of  executions 
have  generally  obtained.  The  stake  was  no  doubt 
in  frequent  use  at  certain  periods  for  particular 
offences,  but  the  axe  and  the  rope  were  long  the  most 
common  instruments  of  despatch.  Death  was  other- 
wise inflicted,  however.  Drowning  is  mentioned 
by  Stowe  as  the  fate  of  pirates,  and  a  horrible 
method  of  carrying  out  capital  punishment  re- 
mained in  force  until  1772.  Pressing  to  death,  or 
the  peine  forte  et  dure,  was  a  development  of  the 
ancient  prison  forte  et  dure,  the  punishment  of 
those  who  refused  "  to  stand  to  the  law ;  "  in  other 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  175 

words,  stood  mute,  and  refused  to  plead  to  a  charge. 
Until  the  reign  of  Henry  IV  such  persons  were 
condemned  to  penance  and  perpetual  imprisonment, 
but  the  penance  meant  confinement  in  a  narrow  cell 
and  absolute  starvation.  Some  evaded  the  dread 
consequences,  and  therefore  a  more  awful  form  of 
torture  was  introduced  with  the  object  of  compelling 
the  silent  to  speak.  An  accused  person  who  per- 
sistently stood  mute  was  solemnly  warned  three 
times  of  the  penalty  that  waited  on  his  obstinacy, 
and  given  a  few  hours  for  consideration.  If  the 
prisoner  continued  contumacious,  the  following 
sentence  was  passed  upon  him,  or  her : 

"  That  you  be  taken  back  to  the  prison  whence 
you  came  to  a  low  dungeon,  into  which  no  light  can 
enter;  that  you  be  laid  on  your  back  on  the  bare 
floor  with  a  cloth  round  your  loins,  but  elsewhere 
naked ;  that  there  be  set  upon  your  body  a  weight  of 
iron  as  great  as  you  can  bear  —  and  greater ;  that 
you  have  no  sustenance,  save  on  the  first  day  three 
morsels  of  the  coarsest  bread,  on  the  second  day 
three  draughts  of  stagnant  water  from  the  pool 
nearest  the  prison  door,  on  the  third  day  again  three 
morsels  of  bread  as  before,  and  such  bread  and 
such  water  alternately  from  day  to  day  till  you 
die." 

The  press  was  a  form  of  torture  with  this  dififer- 
ence  that,  when  once  applied,  there  was  seldom  any 
escape  from  it.  The  practice  of  tying  the  thumbs 
with  whipcord  was  another  form  of  torture  inflicted 


176  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

to  oblige  an  accused  person  to  plead,  and  in  force  as 
late  as  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne. 

Regarding  the  peine  forte  et  dure  Holinshed  says, 
that  when  accused  felons  stood  mute  of  malice  on 
arraignment  they  were  pressed  to  death  "  by  heavy 
weights  laid  upon  a  board  that  lieth  over  their 
breasts  and  a  sharp  stone  under  their  backs,  and 
these  commonly  hold  their  peace  thereby  to  save 
their  goods  unto  their  wives  and  children,  which  if 
they  were  condemned  should  be  confiscated  to  the 
prince."  There  are  continual  references  to  the  peine 
forte  et  dure  in  the  legal  records  throughout  the 
fifteenth  to  the  seventeenth  centuries.  In  1605 
Walter  Calverly,  Esq.,  of  Calverly  in  Yorkshire, 
who  was  arraigned  for  the  murder  of  his  wife  and 
two  children,  stood  mute,  and  was  pressed  to  death 
in  York  Castle.  Another  notable  instance  of  the 
application  of  this  fearful  punishment  was  in  the 
case  of  Major  Strangways,  who  was  arraigned  in 
February,  1657-58,  for  the  murder  of  his  brother- 
in-law  Mr.  Fussell.  He  refused  to  plead  unless  he 
was  assured  that  if  condemned  he  might  be  shot  as 
his  brother-in-law  had  been.  In  addition  he  said 
that  he  wished  to  preserve  his  estate  from  confisca- 
tion. Chief  Justice  Glyn  reasoned  with  him  at 
length,  but  could  not  alter  his  decision,  and  he  was 
duly  sentenced  to  the  peine  forte  et  dure.  The 
sentence  ran  that  he  was  to  be  put  into  a  mean 
room  where  no  light  could  enter,  and  where  he  was 
to  be  laid  upon  his  back  with  his  body  bare;  his  legs 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


177 


and  arms  were  to  be  stretched  out  with  cords,  and 
then  iron  and  stone  were  to  be  laid  upon  him  "  as 
much  as  he  could  bear  —  and  more ;  "  his  food  the 
first  day  was  to  be  three  morsels  of  barley  bread, 
and  on  the  second  day  he  was  "  to  drink  thrice  of 
water  in  the  channel  next  to  the  prison,  but  no 
spring  or  fountain  water  —  and  this  shall  be  his 
punishment  till  he  dies." 

Strangways  suffered  in  Newgate.  He  was  at- 
tended to  the  last  by  five  pious  divines,  and  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  prayer.  On  the  day  of  execu- 
tion he  appeared  all  in  white  "  waistcoat,  stockings, 
drawers,  and  cap,  over  which  was  cast  a  long  mourn- 
ing-cloak," and  so  was  "  guarded  down  to  a 
dungeon  in  the  press-yard,  the  dismal  place  of 
execution."  On  his  giving  the  appointed  signal, 
"  his  mournful  attendants  performed  their  dread- 
ful task.  They  soon  perceived  that  the  weight  they 
laid  on  was  not  sufficient  to  put  him  suddenly  out  of 
pain,  so  several  of  them  added  their  own  weight, 
that  they  might  sooner  release  his  soul."  He  en- 
dured great  agonies.  His  groans  were  "  loud  and 
doleful,"  and  it  was  eight  or  ten  minutes  before  he 
died.  After  death  his  body  was  exposed  to  view, 
and  it  was  seen  that  an  angle  of  the  press  had  been 
purposely  placed  over  his  heart,  so  that  he  might 
the  sooner  be  deprived  of  life,  "  though  he  was  de- 
nied what  is  usual  in  these  cases,  to  have  a  sharp 
piece  of  timber  under  his  back  to  hasten  execution." 

In  1 72 1,  Nathaniel  Hawes,  who  had  come  to  be 


178  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

what  we  should  to-day  call  an  habitual  criminal, 
and  who  had  been  frequently  in  Newgate,  took  to 
the  road.  After  various  successful  adventures,  he 
stopped  a  gentleman  on  Finchley  Common,  who 
was  more  than  his  match  and  made  him  prisoner. 
He  was  conveyed  to  London  and  committed  to  New- 
gate. When  brought  to  the  bar  of  the  Old  Bailey 
he  refused  to  plead,  giving  as  his  reason  that  he 
meant  to  die  as  he  had  lived,  like  a  gentleman. 
When  he  was  seized,  he  said  he  had  on  a  fine  suit 
of  clothes,  which  he  intended  to  have  gone  to  the 
gallows  in,  but  they  had  been  taken  from  him. 
"  Unless  they  are  returned,  I  will  not  plead,"  he 
went  on,  "  for  no  one  shall  say  that  I  was  hanged 
in  a  dirty  shirt  and  a  ragged  coat."  He  was  warned 
what  would  be  the  consequences  of  his  contempt  of 
the  law,  but  he  obstinately  persevered,  and  was  ac- 
cordingly sentenced  to  the  press.  He  bore  a  weight 
of  250  pounds  for  about  seven  minutes,  and  then 
gave  in,  being  unable  any  longer  to  bear  the  pain. 
On  return  to  court  he  pleaded  "  Not  guilty,"  but 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  death. 

Two  years  later,  William  Spiggot  and  Thomas 
Phillips,  arraigned  for  highway  robbery,  refused 
to  plead,  and  were  also  sentenced  to  the  press. 
Phillips,  on  coming  into  the  press-yard,  was  af- 
frighted by  the  apparatus,  and  begged  that  he 
might  be  taken  back  to  court  to  plead,  "  a  favour 
that  was  granted  him ;  it  might  have  been  denied 
him."     Spiggot,  however,  remained  obdurate,  and 


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178 

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and 
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gate.     V'^fit^n  uruughf-  ' 
he  refused  to  plead, 

n  "      ''■"  as  he 

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of    CiUlli'.- 


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to  the  press-yard,  w 
and    1 
>urt  to  plead. 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


179 


was  put  under  the  press,  where  he  continued  half  an 
hour  with  a  weight  to  the  amount  of  350  pounds 
on  his  body;  "  but,  on  addition  of  the  fifty  pounds 
more,  he  Hkewise  begged  to  plead."  Both  were 
then  convicted  and  hanged  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  law. 

Again,  Edward  Burnworth,  the  captain  of  a  gang 
of  murderers  and  robbers  which  rose  into  notoriety 
on  the  downfall  of  Wild,  was  sentenced  to  the  press 
at  Kingston  in  1726,  by  Lord  Chief  Justice  Ray- 
mond and  Judge  Denton.  He  bore  the  weight  of 
I  cwt.  3  qrs.  2  lbs.  on  his  breast  for  the  space  of  an 
hour  and  three  minutes,  during  which  time  the  high 
sheriff  who  attended  him  used  every  argument  to 
induce  him  to  plead,  but  in  vain.  Burnworth,  all 
the  time,  was  trying  to  kill  himself  by  striking  his 
head  against  the  floor.  At  last  he  was  prevailed  on 
to  promise  to  plead,  was  brought  back  to  court,  and 
duly  sentenced  to  death. 

The  last  instance  in  which  the  press  was  in- 
flicted was  at  Kilkenny  in  Ireland.  A  man  named 
Matthew  Ryan  stood  mute  at  his  trial  for  highway 
robbery,  and  was  adjudged  by  the  jury  to  be  guilty 
of  "  wilful  and  affected  dumbness  and  lunacy."  He 
was  given  some  days'  grace,  but  still  remaining 
dumb,  he  was  pressed  to  death  in  the  public  market 
of  Kilkenny.  As  the  weights  were  put  upon  him 
the  wretched  man  broke  silence  and  implored  that 
he  might  be  hanged,  but  the  sheriff  could  not  grant 
his  request. 


i8o  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

In  1 73 1  a  new  press  was  made  and  fixed  in  the 
press-yard,  for  the  punishment  of  a  highwayman 
named  Cook,  but  it  was  not  used.  At  length,  in 
1772,  the  law  on  this  head  was  altered  and  judgment 
was  awarded  against  mutes  as  though  convicted  or 
they  had  confessed.  In  1778  one  so  suffered  at  the 
Old  Bailey.  Finally,  it  was  provided  that  the  court 
should  enter  a  plea  of  "  Not  guilty  "  when  the 
prisoner  refused  to  plead. 

The  principal  forms  of  capital  punishment,  how- 
ever, as  the  derivation  of  the  expression  implies, 
have  dealt  with  the  head  as  the  most  vulnerable 
part  of  the  body.  Death  has  been  and  still  is  most 
generally  inflicted  by  decapitation  and  strangulation. 
The  former,  except  in  France,  where  it  came  to  be 
universal,  was  the  most  aristocratic  method;  the 
latter  was  long  applied  only  to  criminals  of  the 
baser  sort.  Until  the  invention  of  the  guillotine, 
culprits  were  beheaded  by  sword  or  axe,  and  were 
often  cruelly  mangled  by  a  bungling  executioner. 
It  is  asserted  by  the  historian  that  the  executioner 
pursued  the  Countess  of  Salisbury  about  the  scaf- 
fold, aiming  repeated  blows  at  her,  before  he  suc- 
ceeded in  striking  off  her  head.  This  uncertainty 
in  result  was  only  ended  by  the  ingenious  invention 
of  Doctor  Guillotin,  the  prototype  of  which  existed 
in  the  time  of  the  Scotch  "  Maiden."  The  regent 
Morton,  who  introduced  this  instrument  into  Scot- 
land, and  who  himself  suffered  by  it,  is  said  to  have 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  i8i 

patterned  it  after  the  Halifax  Gibbet.^  Guillotin's 
machine  was  not  altogether  original,  but  it  owed 
more  to  the  Italian  "  Mannaia "  than  to  the 
"  Maiden."  Nor,  according  to  Sanson,  the  French 
headsman,  was  he  the  actual  inventor  of  the  no- 
torious instrument  guillotine,  which  bears  his  name. 
The  guillotine  was  designed  by  one  Schmidt,  a  Ger- 
man engineer  and  artificer  of  musical  instruments. 
Guillotin  enthusiastically  adopted  Schmidt's  design, 
which  he  strongly  recommended  in  the  assembly, 
declaring  that  by  it  a  culprit  could  not  suffer,  but 
only  feel  a  slight  freshness  on  the  neck.  Louis 
XVI  was  decapitated  by  the  guillotine,  as  was  the 
doctor,  its  sponsor  and  introducer. 

Strangulation,  whether  applied  by  the  bow- 
string, cord,  handkerchief,  or  drop,  is  as  old  as  the 
hills.  It  was  inflicted  by  the  Greeks  as  an  especially 
ignominious  punishment.  The  "  sus  per  coll."  was 
not  unknown  in  the  penal  law  of  the  Romans,  who 
were  in  the  habit  also  of  exposing  the  dead  convict 
upon  the  gibbet,  "  as  a  comfortable  sight  to  his 
friends  and  relations." 

In  London  various  places  have  been  used  for  the 


*  By  "  Halifax  law  "  any  thief  who  within  the  precincts  of 
the  liberty  stole  thirteen  pence  could  on  conviction  before 
four  burghers  be  sentenced  to  death.  The  same  law  obtained 
at  Hull,  hence  the  particular  prayer  in  the  thieves'  Litany, 
which  ran  as  follows :  "  From  Hull,  Hell,  and  Halifax,  good 
Lord,  deliver  us." 


i82  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

scene  of  execution.  The  spot  where  a  murder  had 
been  committed  was  often  appropriately  selected  as 
the  place  of  retribution.  Execution  Dock  was  re- 
served for  pirates  and  sea-robbers,  Tower  Hill  for 
persons  of  rank  who  were  beheaded.  Gallows  for 
meaner  malefactors  were  sometimes  erected  on  the 
latter  place,  the  right  to  do  so  being  claimed  by  the 
city.  In  the  reign  of  Edward  IV,  however,  there 
was  a  conflict  of  authority  between  the  king  and  the 
Corporation  on  this  point.  The  king's  officer  set  up 
a  scaffold  and  gallows  on  Tower  Hill,  whereupon 
the  mayor  and  his  brethren  complained  to  the  king, 
who  replied,  that  he  had  not  acted  in  derogation 
of  the  city  liberties,  and  caused  pul)lic  proclama- 
tion to  be  made  that  the  city  exercised  certain  rights 
on  Tower  Hill.  Executions  also  took  place,  accord- 
ing to  Pennant,  at  the  Standard  in  Chepe.  Three 
men  were  beheaded  there  for  rescuing  a  prisoner, 
and  in  135 1  two  fishmongers  for  some  unknown 
crime.  Smithfield  had  long  the  dismal  honour  of 
witnessing  the  death-throes  of  offenders.  Between 
Hozier  and  Cow  Lanes  was  anciently  a  large  pool 
called  Smithfield  Pond  or  Horse  Pool,  "  from  the 
watering  of  horses  there ;  "  to  the  southwest  lay 
St.  John's  Court,  and  close  to  it  the  public  gallows 
on  the  town  green.  There  was  a  clump  of  trees 
in  the  centre  of  the  green,  ejms,  from  which  the 
place  of  execution  was  long  euphemistically  called 
**  The  Elms."  It  was  used  as  such  early  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  distinguished  persons,  Will- 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  183 

iam  Fitzosbert,  Mortimer,  and  Sir  William  Wallace 
suffered  here. 

About  141 3  the  gibbet  was  removed  from  Smith- 
field  and  put  up  at  the  north  end  of  a  garden  wall 
belonging  to  St,  Giles's  Leper  Hospital,  "  opposite 
the  Pound  where  the  Crown  Tavern  is  at  present 
situate,  between  the  end  of  St,  Giles  High  Street 
and  Hog  Lane."  But  Smithfield  must  have  been 
still  used  after  the  transfer  of  the  gallows  to  St. 
Giles,  In  1580  another  conflict  of  jurisdiction,  this 
time  between  the  city  and  the  Lieutenant  of  the 
Tower.  A  gibbet  was  erected  in  that  year  in  East 
Smithfield,  at  Hog  Lane,  for  the  execution  of  one 
R.  Dod,  who  had  murdered  a  woman  in  those  parts. 
"  But  when  the  sheriff  brought  the  malefactor  there 
to  be  hanged  Sir  Owen  Hopton,  the  Lieutenant  of 
the  Tower,  commanded  the  sheriff's  officers  back 
again  to  the  west  side  of  a  cross  that  stood  there," 
and  which  probably  marked  the  extent  of  the 
liberties  of  the  Tower,  Discussion  followed.  The 
sheriffs  with  their  prisoner  accompanied  the  lieu- 
tenant into  a  house  to  talk  it  over,  "  whence  after  a 
good  stay  they  all  departed."  The  city  gave  way  — 
the  gibbet  was  taken  down,  and  the  malefactor 
carried  to  Tyburn  in  the  same  afternoon,  where  he 
was  executed. 

The  gallows  were  no  doubt  all  ready  for  the 
business,  for  Tyburn  had  been  used  for  executions 
as  long  as  Smithfield.  There  were  elms  also  at 
Tyburn,  hence  a  not  uncommon  confusion  between 


i84  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  two  places  of  execution.  Tyebourne  has  been 
ingeniously  derived  from  the  two  words  "  Tye " 
and  "  bourne,"  the  last  a  bourne  or  resting-place 
for  prisoners  who  were  taken  bound.  Pennant  gives 
the  derivation  "  Tye,"  the  name  of  a  brook  or 
"  bourne  "  which  flowed  through  it. 

In  Lx)ftie's  "  History  of  London  "  he  points  out 
that  the  Tyburn  of  earliest  times  was  a  bleak 
heath  situated  at  the  end  of  the  Marylebone  Lane 
as  we  know  it,  and  which,  as  it  approached  the  town, 
had  two  branches.  He  suggests  that  the  brook  or 
"  bourne "  also  divided  into  two,  hence  the  name 
"  Teo  Burne,"  or  two  streams.  Mr.  Waller  gives 
the  same  derivation,  and  in  one  of  the  earliest  men- 
tions of  the  Tyburn,  an  ancient  chapter  at  West- 
minster, dated  951,  it  is  called  Teoburne. 

There  were  many  Tybums,  however,  and  as  in 
London  the  gallows  were  moved  farther  and  farther 
westward  of  the  building  of  houses,  so  the  name  of 
Tyburn  travelled  from  Marylebone  Lane  to  Edge- 
ware  Road.  As  time  passed  on  it  came  to  be  the 
generic  name  for  all  places  of  execution,  and  was 
used  at  York.  Liverpool,  Dublin,  and  elsewhere. 
Tyburn  was  a  kind  of  Golgotha,  a  place  of  infamy 
and  disgrace.  When  Colonel  Blood  seized  the  Duke 
of  Ormond  in  St.  James's  Street  it  was  with  the 
avowed  intention  of  carrying  him  to  Tyburn,  there 
to  be  hanged  like  a  common  criminal. 

The  exact  position  of  the  Tyburn  gallows  has 
been  a  matter  of  some  controversy.     Mr.   Robins 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  185 

places  the  Elms  Lane  as  the  first  turning  to  the  right 
in  the  Uxbridge  Road  after  getting  into  it  from 
the  Grand  Junction  Road  opposite  the  Serpentine. 
In  Smith's  "  History  of  Marylebone,"  he  states  that 
the  gallows  stood  on  a  small  eminence  at  the  corner 
of  the  Edgeware  Road  near  the  turnpike.  Other 
authorities  fix  the  place  in  Connaught  Square;  be- 
cause in  a  lease  of  one  of  the  houses,  No.  49, 
granted  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  fact  that  the 
gallows  once  stood  on  the  site  is  expressly  men- 
tioned in  the  parchment.  It  was  commonly  reported 
that  many  human  bones  were  exhumed  between 
Nos.  6  and  12,  Connaught  Place,  as  well  as  in  the 
garden  of  Arklow  House,  which  stands  at  the  south- 
west angle  of  the  Edgeware  Road.  But  Mr.  Loftie 
states  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  no  such  discovery  was 
ever  made.  A  careful  but  fruitless  search  at  the 
time  Connaught  Place  was  built  produced  a  single 
bone,  probably  part  of  a  human  jaw-bone,  but  noth- 
ing more.  As  to  Arklow  House,  the  report  is 
distinctly  denied  by  the  owner  himself.  It  is,  how- 
ever, pretty  certain  that  at  a  later  date  the  gallows 
were  kept  at  a  house  at  the  corner  of  Upper  Bryans- 
ton  Street  and  the  Edgeware  Road,  in  front  of 
which  they  were  erected  when  required. 

A  detailed  account  has  been  preserved  of  the 
execution  of  Colonel  John  Turner  in  1662,  which 
presents  a  strange  picture  of  the  way  In  which  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  law  was  carried  out  in  those 
days.     The  scene  of  the  execution  was  not  Tyburn 


i86  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

but  a  place  in  Leadenhall  Street  at  Lime  Street  end, 
a  spot  near  the  place  where  the  deed  for  which 
Turner  suffered  was  perpetrated.  An  immense 
crowd  had  gathered,  as  usual,  to  witness  the  con- 
vict's death.  Pepys  was  there  of  course,  as  he  tells 
us;  "and  after  sending  my  wife  to  my  Aunt 
Wright's,  to  get  a  place  to  see  Turner  hanged,  I  to 
Change."  On  his  way  he  met  people  flocking  to  the 
place  of  execution,  and  mingling  with  the  crowd, 
somewhere  about  St.  Mary  Axe,  "  got  to  stand  upon 
the  wheel  of  a  cart  for  a  shilling  in  great  pain 
above  an  hour  before  the  execution  was  done: 
He  delaying  the  time  by  long  discourses  and  prayers 
one  after  another  in  hopes  of  a  reprieve,  but  none 
came." 

Turner  was  drawn  in  a  cart  from  Newgate 
at  eleven  in  the  morning,  accompanied  by  the 
ordinary  and  another  minister  with  the  sheriffs, 
keeper  of  the  gaol,  and  other  officials  in  attendance. 
On  coming  to  the  gibbet  he  called  the  executioner 
to  him,  and  presented  him  w^ith  money  in  lieu  of 
his  clothes,  which  his  friends  desired  to  keep.  Then 
standing  in  the  cart,  he  addressed  the  crowd  with 
great  prolixity.  He  dwelt  on  the  cardinal  sins;  he 
gave  a  circumstantial  account  of  his  birth,  par- 
entage, family  history;  he  detailed  his  war  services 
as  a  loyal  cavalier,  with  his  promotions  and  various 
military  rewards.  With  much  proper  feeling  he 
sought  to  lessen  the  blame  attached  to  his  accom- 
plices in  the  murder,  and  to  exonerate  the  innocent 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  187 

accused.  At  intervals  in  this  long  discourse  he  was 
interrupted  now  by  the  sheriffs  with  broad  hints  to 
despatch,  now  by  the  ordinary  as  to  the  irrelevance 
and  impropriety  of  such  remarks  from  a  man  about 
to  die.  Again  the  keeper  of  Newgate  taxed  him 
with  other  crimes,  saying,  for  example,  "  Pray, 
Colonel  Turner,  do  you  know  nothing  of  a  glass 
jewel  delivered  to  the  Countess  of  Devonshire  in 
room  of  another  ?  "  or  "  How  about  the  fire  in  Loth- 
bury,  or  the  mysterious  death  of  your  namesake 
Turner,  who  died  in  your  house?  " 

The  condemned  man  discoursed  at  great  length 
upon  these  various  points,  and  was  again  and  again 
reminded  that  it  would  be  better  for  him  to  pre- 
pare for  his  approaching  end.  Still  he  continued 
his  harangue  and  took  a  new  departure  when  he 
remembered  the  condition  of  the  condemned  hold 
of  Newgate,  into  which  he  had  been  cast  after  com- 
ing from  the  sessions.  This  hole,  as  it  was  called, 
he  characterizes  as  "  a  most  fearful,  sad,  deplorable 
place.  Hell  itself  in  comparison  cannot  be  such 
a  place.  There  is  neither  bench,  stool  nor  stick  for 
any  person  there;  they  lie  like  swine  upon  the 
ground,  one  upon  another,  howling  and  roaring  — 
it  was  more  terrible  to  me  than  this  death.  I  would 
humbly  beg  that  hole  may  be  provided  with  some 
kind  of  boards,  like  a  court  of  guard,  that  a  man 
may  lie  down  upon  them  in  ease;  for  when  they, 
should  be  best  prepared  for  their  ends  they  are  most 
tormented;   they  had  better  take  them   and  hang 


i88  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

them  as  soon  as  they  have  their  sentence."  This 
aspersion,  however,  on  this  part  of  his  gaol  the 
keeper  tried  to  refute  by  stating  that  seventeen  out 
of  the  nineteen  poor  wretches  confined  in  the  hole 
managed  to  escape  from  it. 

But  the  reprieve  for  which  Turner  looked  in 
vain  still  tarried.  He  was  obliged  now  to  fall  to 
his  prayers.  These,  by  the  Christian  charity  of 
the  ofiicials,  he  was  permitted  to  spin  out  as  long 
as  he  pleased.  Then  he  went  through  the  ceremony 
of  distributing  alms-money  for  the  poor,  money 
for  his  wife,  to  be  passed  on  to  his  young  son's 
schoolmaster.  At  last  he  directed  the  executioner 
to  take  the  halter  off  his  shoulders,  and  afterwards, 
"  taking  it  in  his  hands,  he  kissed  it,  and  put  it  on 
his  neck  himself;  then  after  he  had  fitted  the  cap 
and  put  it  on,  he  went  out  of  the  cart  up  the 
ladder."  The  executioner  fastened  the  noose,  and 
"  pulling  the  rope  a  little,  says  Turner,  *  What,  dost 
thou  mean  to  choke  me?  Pray,  fellow,  give  me 
more  rope  —  what  a  simple  fellow  is  this !  How 
long  have  you  been  executioner,  that  you  know  not 
how  to  put  the  knot?  '  "  At  the  very  last  moment, 
in  the  midst  of  some  private  ejaculations,  espying  a 
gentlewoman  at  a  window  nigh,  he  kissed  his  hand, 
saying,  "  Your  servant,  mistress,"  and  so  he  was 
**  turned  off,"  as  Pepys  says  of  him,  "  a  comely- 
looking  man  he  was,  and  kept  his  countenance  to  the 
last.    I  was  sorry  to  see  him.    It  was  believed  there 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  189 

were  at  least  twelve  or  fourteen  thousand  people  in 
the  street." 

There  was  nothing  new  in  this  desire  to  gloat 
over  the  dying  agonies  of  one's  fellow  creatures. 
The  Roman  matron  cried  "  habet,"  and  turned  down 
her  thumb  when  the  gladiator  despatched  his  pros- 
trate foe.  Great  dignitaries  and  high-born  dames 
have  witnessed  without  a  shudder  the  tortures  of 
an  auto  da  fe;  to  this  day  it  is  the  fashion  for 
delicately  nurtured  ladies  to  flock  to  the  Law  Courts, 
and  note  the  varying  emotions,  from  keenest  anguish 
to  most  brutal  sang-froid,  of  notorious  murderers 
on  trial.  It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  in  uncultivated 
and  comparatively  demoralized  ages  the  concourse 
about  the  gallows  should  be  great,  or  the  conduct  of 
the  spectators  riotous,  brutal,  often  heartless  in  the 
extreme.  There  was  always  a  rush  to  see  an  execu- 
tion. The  crowd  was  extraordinary  when  the  suf- 
ferers were  persons  of  note  or  had  been  concerned 
in  any  much-talked-of  case.  Thus  all  London 
turned  out  to  stare  at  the  hanging  of  Vratz, 
Boroski,  and  Stern,  convicted  of  the  murder  of  Mr. 
Thynne,  of  which  Count  Konigsmark  had  been  ac- 
quitted. The  execution  took  place  in  1682  on  the 
gallows  which  had  been  set  up  in  Pall  Mall,  the 
scene  of  the  crime.  "  Many  hundreds  of  standings 
were  taken  up  by  persons  of  quality  and  others." 
The  Duke  of  Monmouth,  one  of  the  most  intimate 
friends   of    the    murdered   man,    was    among   the 


igo  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

spectators  in  a  balcony  close  by  the  gallows,  and  was 
the  cynosure  of  every  eye,  fixing  the  glance  of  even 
one  of  the  convicts,  Captain  Vratz,  who  stared  at 
him  fixedly  till  the  drop  fell. 

The  fashion  of  gazing  at  these  painful  exhibitions 
grew  more  and  more  popular.  Horace  Walpole 
satirizes  the  vile  practice  of  thus  glorifying 
criminals.  "  You  cannot  conceive,"  he  says  to  Sir 
Horace  Mann,  "  the  ridiculous  rage  there  is  of  go- 
ing to  Newgate,  the  prints  that  are  published  of  the 
malefactors,  and  the  memoirs  of  their  lives  set  forth 
with  as  much  parade  as  Marshal  Turrenne's." 
George  Selwyn,  chief  among  the  wits  and  beaux 
of  his  time,  was  also  conspicuous  for  his  craving 
for  such  horrid  sights.  He  was  characterized  by 
Walpole  as  a  friend  whose  passion  it  was  to  see 
coffins,  corpses,  and  executions.  Judges  going  on 
assize  wrote  to  Selwyn,  promising  him  a  good  place 
at  all  the  executions  which  might  take  place  on  their 
circuits.  Other  friends  kept  him  informed  of  ap- 
proaching events,  and  bespoke  a  seat  for  him,  or 
gave  full  details  of  the  demeanour  of  those  whose 
sufferings  he  had  not  been  privileged  to  see.  Thus 
Henry  St.  John  writes  to  tell  him  of  the  execution  of 
Waistcott,  Lord  Huntington's  butler,  for  burglary: 
which  he  attended,  with  his  brother,  at  the  risk  of 
breaking  their  necks,  "  by  climbing  up  an  old  rotten 
scaffolding,  which  I  feared  would  tumble  before 
the  cart  drove  off  with  the  six  malefactors."  St. 
John  goes  on  to  say  that  he  had  a   full  view  of 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


191 


VVaistcott,  "  who  went  to  the  gallows  with  a  white 
cockade  in  his  hat  as  an  emblem  of  his  innocence, 
and  died  with  some  hardness,  as  appeared  through 
his  trial."  Another  correspondent,  Gilly  Williams, 
gives  additional  particulars.  "  The  dog  died  game : 
went  in  the  cart  in  a  blue  and  white  frock  .  .  . 
and  the  white  cockade.  He  ate  several  oranges 
on  his  passage,  inquired  if  his  hearse  was  ready, 
and  then,  as  old  Rowe  would  say,  was  launched  into 
eternity."  Again  George  Townshend,  writing  to 
Selwyn  from  Scotland  of  the  Jacobites,  promises 
him  plenty  more  entertainment  on  Tower  Hill.  The 
joke  went  round  that  Selwyn  at  the  dentist's  gave 
the  signal  for  drawing  a  tooth  by  dropping  his 
handkerchief,  just  as  people  did  to  the  executioner 
on  the  scaffold.  He  would  go  anywhere  to  see  men 
turned  ofif.  He  was  present  when  Lord  Lovat  was 
decapitated,  and  justified  himself  by  saying  that  he 
had  made  amends  in  going  to  the  undertaker's  to 
see  the  head  sewn  on  again.  So  eager  was  he  to 
miss  no  sight  worth  seeing,  that  he  went  purposely 
to  Paris  to  witness  the  torture  of  the  unhappy 
Damiens.  "  On  the  day  of  the  execution,"  Jesse 
tells  us,  "  he  mingled  with  the  crowd  in  a  plain 
undress  suit  and  bob  wig;  when  a  French  noble- 
man, observing  the  deep  interest  he  took  in  the 
scene,  and  imagining  from  the  plainness  of  his  attire 
that  he  must  be  a  person  in  the  humbler  ranks  of 
life,  resolved  that  he  must  infallibly  be  a  hangman. 
*  Eh  bien,   monsieur,'   he  said,   '  Etes  vous   arrive 


192  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

pour  voir  ce  spectacle?'  '  Oui,  monsieur.'  '  Vous 
etes  bourreau?'  '  Non,  monsieur,'  replied  Selvvyn, 
*  je  n'ai  pas  I'honneur;  je  ne  suis  qu'un  amateur.'  " 

It  was  in  these  days,  or  a  little  later,  when  New- 
gate became  the  scene  of  action,  that  an  execution 
was  made  the  occasion  of  a  small  festivity  at  the 
prison.  The  governor  gave  a  breakfast  after  the 
ceremony  to  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  people  of 
distinction,  and  his  daughter,  a  very  pretty  girl, 
did  the  honours  of  the  table.  According  to  her 
account,  few  did  much  justice  to  the  viands :  the 
first  call  of  the  inexperienced  was  for  brandy,  and 
the  only  person  with  a  good  appetite  for  her  broiled 
kidneys,  a  celebrated  dish  of  hers,  was  the  ordinary. 
After  breakfast  was  over  the  whole  party  adjourned 
to  see  the  cutting  down. 

That  which  was  a  morbid  curiosity  among  a 
certain  section  of  the  upper  classes  became  a  fierce 
hungry  passion  with  the  lower.  The  scenes  upon 
execution  days  almost  baffle  description.  Dense 
crowds  thronged  the  approaches  to  Newgate  and 
the  streets  leading  to  Tyburn  or  other  places  of 
execution.  It  was  a  ribald,  reckless,  brutal  mob, 
violently  combative,  fighting  and  struggling  for 
foremost  places,  fiercely  aggressive,  distinctly 
abusive.  Spectators  often  had  their  limbs  broken, 
their  teeth  knocked  out,  sometimes  they  were 
crushed  to  death.  Barriers  could  not  always  re- 
strain the  crowd,  and  were  often  borne  down  and 
trampled  underfoot.     All  along  the  route  taken  by 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  193 

the  procession  people  vented  their  feehngs  upon 
the  doomed  convicts:  cheering  a  popular  criminal 
to  the  echo,  offering  him  nosegays  or  unlimited 
drink;  railing  and  storming,  on  the  other  hand,  at 
those  they  hated  or,  worse  still,  despised.  When 
Earl  Ferrers  was  hanged  in  1760  the  concourse  was 
so  great  that  the  procession  took  three  hours  to 
travel  from  Newgate  to  Tyburn.  Lord  Ferrers  told 
the  sheriff  that  passing  through  such  a  multitude 
was  ten  times  worse  than  death  itself.  The  same 
brutality  was  carried  to  the  foot  of  the  gallows. 
The  mob  surged  around  the  cart  conversing  with  the 
condemned :  now  encouraging,  now  upbraiding, 
anon  making  him  a  target  for  all  manner  of 
missiles,  and  this  even  at  the  last  awful  moment, 
when  the  convict  was  on  his  knees  wrapped  in 
prayer,  A  woman  named  Barbara  Spencer  was 
beaten  down  by  a  stone  when  actually  in  supplication 
upon  her  knees.  When  Jack  Sheppard,  that  most 
popular  but  most  depraved  young  criminal,  was 
executed,  an  incredible  number  of  persons  was 
present.  The  crowd  was  unruly  enough  even  be- 
fore execution,  but  afterwards  it  grew  perfectly 
frantic.  When  the  body  had  hung  the  appointed 
time,  an  undertaker  ventured  to  appear  with  a 
hearse  to  carry  it  off,  but  being  taken  for  a  surgeon's 
man  about  to  remove  Jack  Sheppard  to  the  dissect- 
ing-room, he  incurred  the  fierce  displeasure  of  the 
mob.  They  demolished  the  hearse,  then  fell  upon 
the  undertaker,   who  with  difficulty  escaped   with 


194  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

life.  After  that  they  seized  the  body  and  carried 
it  off,  throwing  it  from  hand  to  hand,  until  it  was 
covered  with  bruises  and  dirt.  It  was  taken  as 
far  as  the  Barley  Mow  in  Long  Acre,  where  it  lay 
some  hours,  and  until  it  was  discovered  that  the 
whole  thing  was  a  trick  devised  by  a  bailiff  in  the 
pay  of  the  surgeons,  and  that  the  body  had  been 
forcibly  taken  from  a  person  who  really  intended  to 
bury  it.  The  mob  was  now  excited  to  frenzy,  and 
a  serious  riot  followed.  The  police  being  quite 
inadequate  to  quell  it,  the  military  were  called  in, 
and  with  the  aid  of  several  detachments  of  Guards 
the  ringleaders  were  secured.  The  body  was  given 
over  to  a  friend  of  Sheppard's  to  bury,  the  mob 
dispersed  to  attend  it  to  St.  Martin's  Fields,  where 
it  was  deposited  under  a  guard  of  soldiers  and 
eventually  buried. 

While  these  wild  revels  were  kept  up  both  before 
and  after  the  execution  the  demeanour  of  the 
doomed  partook  too  often  of  the  general  reckless- 
ness. The  calendars  are  full  of  particulars  of  the 
manner  in  which  condemned  convicts  met  their  fate. 
Mafiy  awaited  the  extreme  penalty  and  endured  it 
with  callous  indifference  or  flippant  effrontery. 
Only  now  and  again  did  their  courage  break  down 
at  the  eleventh  hour,  and  so  prove  that  it  was  as- 
sumed. A  few  notable  examples  may  be  cited  as 
exhibiting  their  various  moods.  Paul  Lewis,  once 
a  lieutenant  in  the  royal  navy,  but  an  irreclaimable 
scoundrel,  who  took  eventually  to  the  road,  and  was 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


195 


sentenced  to  death  for  highway  robbery,  was  boldly 
unconcerned  after  sentence.  In  Newgate  he  was  the 
leader  of  the  revels :  they  dubbed  him  captain,  like 
Macheath ;  he  sat  at  the  head  of  the  table,  swore  at 
the  parson,  and  sang  obscene  songs.  It  was  not 
until  the  warrant  of  execution  arrived  at  the  prison, 
that  all  bravado  evaporated,  and  he  became  as 
abject  as  he  had  before  appeared  hardened.  John 
Rann  the  highwayman,  better  known  as  Sixteen 
String  Jack,  had  a  farewell  dinner-party  after  he 
was  convicted,  and  while  awaiting  execution :  the 
company  included  seven  girls ;  "  all  were  remark- 
able cheerful,  nor  was  Rann  less  joyous  than  his 
companions."  Dick  Turpin  made  elaborate  prepara- 
tions for  his  execution ;  purchased  a  new  suit  of 
fustian  and  a  pair  of  pumps  to  wear  at  the  gallows, 
and  hired  five  poor  men  at  ten  shillings  per  head, 
to  follow  his  cart  as  mourners,  providing  them  with 
hat-bands  and  mourning-bands.  Nathaniel  Park- 
hurst,  who,  when  in  the  Fleet  for  debtors,  murdered 
a  fellow  prisoner,  demolished  a  roast  fowl  at  break- 
fast on  the  morning  of  his  execution,  and  drank  a 
pint  of  liquor  with  it.  Jerry  Abershaw  was  per- 
sistently callous  from  first  to  last.  Returning  from 
court  across  Kennington  Common,  he  asked  his 
conductors  whether  that  was  the  spot  on  which  he 
was  to  be  twisted?  His  last  days  in  the  condemned 
cell  he  spent  in  drawing  upon  the  walls  with  the 
juice  of  black  cherries  designs  of  the  various  rob- 
beries he  had  committed  on  the  road.     Abershaw's 


196  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

sang-froid  did  not  desert  him  on  the  last  day.  He 
appeared  with  his  shirt  thrown  open,  a  flower  in  his 
mouth,  and  all  the  way  to  the  gallows  carried  on 
an  incessant  conversation  with  friends  who  rode 
by  his  side,  nodding  to  others  he  recognized  in  the 
crowd,  which  was  immense.  The  season  was  the 
summer,  and  on  the  Sunday  following  the  execu- 
tion, London  was  like  a  deserted  city;  hundreds  of 
thousands  went  out  to  see  him  hanging  in  chains. 

Still  more  awful  was  the  conduct  of  Hannah 
Dagoe,  a  herculean  Irish  woman,  who  plied  the 
trade  of  porter  at  Covent  Garden.  In  Newgate 
while  under  sentence  she  was  most  defiant.  She 
was  the  terror  of  her  fellow  prisoners,  and  actually 
stabbed  a  man  who  had  given  evidence  against  her. 
When  the  cart  was  drawn  in  under  the  gallows  she 
got  her  arms  loose,  seized  the  executioner,  struggled 
with  him,  and  gave  him  so  violent  a  blow  on  the 
chest  that  she  nearly  knocked  him  down.  She 
dared  him  to  hang  her,  and  tearing  off  her  hat, 
cloak,  and  other  garments,  the  hangman's  per- 
quisites, distributed  them  among  the  crowd  in  spite 
of  him.  After  a  long  struggle  he  got  the  rope 
around  her  neck.  This  accomplished,  she  drew  her 
handkerchief  from  round  her  head  over  her  face, 
and  threw  herself  out  of  the  cart  before  the  signal 
was  given  with  such  violence  that  she  broke  her 
neck  and  died  instantly.  Many  ancient  customs 
long  retained  tended  to  make  them  more  hardened. 
Chief  among  these  was  the  offer  of  strong  drink 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  197 

by  the  way.  When  the  gallows  stood  at  St.  Giles 
it  was  the  rule  to  offer  malefactors  about  to  be 
hanged  a  great  bowl  of  ale,  "  as  the  last  refresh- 
ment they  were  to  receive  in  this  life."  This  drink 
was  long  known  as  the  "  St.  Giles's  Bowl."  The 
practice  of  giving  drink  was  pretty  general  for  years 
later  and  in  many  parts  of  the  country.  In  York- 
shire at  Bawtry,  so  the  story  runs,  a  saddler  was  on 
his  way  to  be  hanged.  The  bowl  was  brought  out, 
but  he  refused  it  and  went  on  to  his  death.  Mean- 
while his  reprieve  was  actually  on'the  road,  and  had 
he  lingered  to  drink  time  sufficient  would  have  been 
gained  to  save  him.  Hence  came  the  saying  that 
"  the  saddler  of  Bawtry  was  hanged  for  leaving  his 
ale."  Other  convicts  are  mentioned  in  an  uncom- 
plimentary manner  because  they  dared  to  smoke  on 
their  road  to  the  gallows.  "  Some  mad  knaves  took 
tobacco  all  the  way  as  they  went  to  be  hanged  at 
Tyburn."  This  was  in  1598,  when  the  use  of  the 
weed  introduced  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  was  still 
somewhat  rare.  A  hundred  years  later  the  misbe- 
haviour was  in  "  impudently  calling  for  sack  "  and 
drinking  King  James's  health ;  after  which  the  con- 
victs affronted  the  ordinary  at  the  gallows,  and  re- 
fused his  assistance. 

There  were  few  who  behaved  with  the  decency 
and  self-possession  of  Lord  Ferrers,  who  went  to 
his  shameful  death  in  a  suit  of  white  and  silver,  that, 
it  is  said,  in  which  he  had  been  married.  He  him- 
self provided  the  white  cap  to  be  pulled  over  his 


198  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

face,  and  the  black  silk  handkerchief  with  which  his 
arms  were  to  be  bound.  His  last  words  were,  "  Am 
I  right?"  and  immediately  the  drop  fell.  In  his 
case  there  had  been  an  unseemly  wrangle  upon  the 
gallows  between  the  executioner  and  his  assistant. 
Lord  Ferrers  had  given  the  latter,  in  mistake  for 
his  chief,  a  fee  of  five  guineas,  which  the  head 
executioner  claimed,  and  the  assistant  would  not 
readily  surrender.  Some  were  in  abject  terror  till 
the  last  act  commenced.  Thus  John  Ayliffe,  a 
forger,  was  in  the  utmost  agonies  the  night  pre- 
ceding his  execution ;  his  agitation  producing  an  in- 
tolerable thirst,  which  he  vainly  sought  to  allay 
by  copious  draughts  of  water.  Yet  his  composure 
quite  returned  on  his  road  to  Tyburn,  and  he  "  be- 
haved with  decency  at  the  fatal  tree."  It  was  just 
the  reverse  with  Mrs.  Meteyard,  who  with  her 
daughter  murdered  a  parish  apprentice.  She  was 
in  a  fit  when  put  into  the  cart,  and  she  continued 
insensible  all  the  way  to  Tyburn.  Great  efforts 
were  made  to  restore  her,  but  without  avail,  and 
she  was  in  an  unconscious  state  when  hanged. 

It  may  be  questioned  whether  that  close  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  con- 
demned which  is  considered  indispensable  in  these 
more  humane  days.  No  doubt  many  rejected  the 
offers  of  the  ordinary,  refusing  to  attend  chapel, 
pretending  to  belong  to  out-of-the-way  persuasions, 
and  still  declining  the  ministrations  of  clergymen  of 
any  creed;  others  pretended,  like  Dean  Swift's  Tom 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  199 

Clinch,  that  they  went  off  with  a  clear  conscience 
and  a  calm  spirit,  without  prayer-book  or  psalm." 
But  very  probably  this  indifference  to  the  ordinary 
and  his  ghostly  counsels  arose  from  a  suspicion  that 
he  was  not  very  earnest  in  what  he  said.  The  New- 
gate ordinary,  although  a  sound  Protestant,  was  a 
father  confessor  to  all  criminals.  Not  the  least 
profitable  part  of  his  emoluments  came  from  the 
sale  of  his  account  of  the  execution  of  convicts,  a 
species  of  gaol  calendar  which  he  compiled  from 
information  the  condemned  men  themselves  sup- 
plied. That  the  ordinary  attached  great  value  to 
this  production  is  clear  from  the  petition  made  by 
one  of  them,  the  Reverend  Paul  Lorraine,  to  the 
House  of  Commons,  that  his  pamphlet  might  be 
exempted  from  the  tax  levied  upon  paper.  It  is  easy 
to  understand  that  the  ordinary  might  have  been 
better  employed  than  in  compiling  these  accounts, 
however  interesting  they  may  be,  as  illustrating  the 
crime  of  the  last  century.  It  is  also  pretty  certain 
that,  although,  doubtless,  blameless  and  exemplary 
men,  Newgate  chaplains  were  not  always  over- 
zealous  in  the  discharge  of  their  sacred  office  in 
regard  to  the  condemned.  There  were  many  grim 
jokes  among  the  prisoners  themselves  as  to  the  value 
of  the  parson's  preaching.  Thus  in  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Cotton's  time  as  ordinary,  convicts  were  said 
to  go  out  of  the  world  with  their  ears  stuffed  full 
of  cotton ;  and  his  interpretation  of  any  particu- 
lar passage  in  Scripture  was  said  to  go  in  at  one  ear 


200  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

and  out  at  the  other. ^  Hence  the  intrusion,  which 
must  have  seemed  to  them  unwarrantable,  of  dis- 
senting and  other  amateur  preachers,  or  well-mean- 
ing enthusiasts,  who  devoted  themselves  with  un- 
remitting vigour  to  the  spiritual  consolation  of  all 
prisoners  who  would  listen  to  them.  It  is  impossible 
to  speak  otherwise  than  most  approvingly  of  the 
single-minded,  self-sacrificing  devotion  of  such  men 
as  Silas  Told,  the  forerunner  of  Howard,  Mrs.  Fry, 
the  Gurneys,  and  other  estimable  philanthropists. 
Nevertheless  unseemly  polemical  wrangles  appeared 
to  have  been  the  result  of  this  interference,  which 
was  better  meant  than  appreciated  by  the  authorized 
clerical  officer.  Doctor  Doran,  referring  to  the  exe- 
cution of  James  Sheppard  (Jacobite  Sheppard,  not 
Jack),  gives  an  account  of  a  conflict  of  this  kind. 
"  Sheppard's  dignity,"  he  says,  "  was  not  even 
ruffled  by  the  renewed  combat  in  the  cart  of  the 
Newgate  chaplain  and  the  nonjuror.  Each  sought 
to  comfort  and  confound  the  culprit  according  to  his 
way  of  thinking.  Once  more  the  messengers  of 
peace  got  to  fisticuffs,  but  as  they  neared  Tyburn  the 
nonjuror  kicked  Paul  (the  ordinary)  out  of  the  cart, 
and  kept  by  the  side  of  Sheppard  till  the  rope  was 
adjusted.  There  he  boldly,  as  those  Jacobite  non- 
jurors were  wont,  gave  the  passive  lad  absolution 
for  the  crime  for  which  he  was  about  to  pay  the 

*The  negligence  and  perfunctory  performance  of  duty  of 
the  ordinary,  Mr.  Forde,  is  strongly  animadverted  upon  in 
the  "  Report  of  Commons'  Committee  in  1814." 


NOTABLE   EXECUTIONS  201 

penalty;  after  which  he  jumped  down  to  have  a 
better  view  of  the  sorry  spectacle  from  the  foremost 
ranks  of  spectators." 

It  was  no  doubt  on  account  of  the  insufficiency 
of  the  spiritual  consolations  offered  to  the  con- 
demned that  led  old  Richard  Dove,  or  Dow,  to 
make  his  endowment  for  tolling  the  prisoner's  bell. 
He  bequeathed  fifty  pounds  a  year  for  ever,  so 
Stowe  tells  us,  for  this  philanthropic  purpose. 

When  condemned  prisoners  were  being  "  drawn 
to  their  executions  at  Tyburn,"  a  man  with  a  bell 
stood  in  the  churchyard  by  St.  Sepulchre's,  by  the 
wall  next  the  street,  and  so  to  put  them  in  mind 
of  their  death  approaching.  Later  on  these  verses 
took  the  form  of  exhortation,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  the  substance : 

"  You  prisoners  that  are  within,  who  for  wicked- 
ness and  sin,  after  many  mercies  shown  you,  are 
now  appointed  to  die  to-morrow  in  the  forenoon : 
give  ear  and  understand  that  to-morrow  morning 
the  greatest  bell  of  St.  Sepulchre's  shall  toll  for  you, 
in  form  and  manner  of  a  passing  bell,  as  used  to 
be  tolled  for  those  who  are  at  the  point  of  death, 
to  the  end  that  all  godly  people  hearing  that  bell, 
and  knowing  it  is  for  you  going  to  your  death,  may 
be  stirred  up  heartily  to  pray  to  God  to  bestow 
His  grace  and  mercy  upon  you  whilst  you  live. 
I  beseech  you,  for  Jesus  Christ  His  sake,  to  keep 
this  night  in  watching  and  prayer  for  the  salvation 
of  your  own  souls,  whilst  there  is  yet  time  and 


202  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

place  for  mercy;  as  knowing  to-morrow  you  must 
appear  before  the  judgment-seat  of  your  Creator, 
there  to  give  an  account  of  all  things  done  in  this 
life,  and  to  suffer  eternal  torments  for  your  sins, 
committed  against  Him,  unless  upon  your  hearty 
and  unfeigned  repentance  you  find  mercy,  through 
the  merits,  death,  and  passion  of  your  only 
Mediator  and  Advocate,  Jesus  Christ,  who  now 
sits  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  to  make  intercession 
for  as  many  of  you  as  penitently  return  to  Him." 

In  times  when  scaffold  and  gallows  were  per- 
petually crowded,  the  executioner  was  a  prominent 
if  not  exactly  a  distinguished  personage.  The 
office  might  not  be  honourable,  but  it  was  not  with- 
out its  uses,  and  the  man  who  filled  it  was  an  object 
of  both  interest  and  dread.  In  some  countries  the 
dismal  paraphernalia  —  axe,  gibbet,  or  rack  —  have 
been  carried  by  aristocratic  families  on  their  arms. 
The  Scotch  Dalziels  bear  sable,  a  hanged  man  with 
his  arms  extended ;  a  Spanish  hidalgo  has  in  his  coat 
armour  a  ladder  with  gibbet;  and  various  imple- 
ments of  torture  have  been  borne  by  German 
families  of  distinction. 

In  France  the  post  of  executioner  was  long 
hereditary,  regularly  transmitted  from  father  to 
son,  for  many  generations,  and  enjoyed  eventually 
something  of  the  credit  vouchsafed  to  all  hereditary 
offices.  With  us  the  law's  finisher  has  never  been 
held  in  great  esteem.  He  was  on  a  par  rather  with 
the  Roman  carnifcx,  an  odious  official,  who  was  not 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS 


203 


suffered  to  live  within  the  precincts  of  the  city. 
The  only  man  who  would  condescend  to  the  work 
was  usually  a  condemned  criminal,  pardoned  for  the 
very  purpose.  Derrick,  one  of  the  first  names 
mentioned,  was  sentenced  to  death,  but  pardoned 
by  Lord  Essex,  whom  he  afterwards  executed. 
Next  to  him  I  find  that  one  Bull  acted  as  execu- 
tioner about  1593.  Then  came  Gregory  Brandon, 
the  man  who  is  generally  supposed  to  have  de- 
capitated Charles  I,  and  who  was  commonly  ad- 
dressed by  his  Christian  name  only.  Through  an 
error  Brandon  was  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  a 
squire  by  Garter,  king  at  arms,  and  succeeding  ex- 
ecutioners were  generally  honoured  with  the  same 
title.  Brandon  was  followed  by  his  son;  young 
Brandon  by  Squire  Dun,  who  gave  place  in  his  turn 
to  John  Ketch,  the  godfather  of  all  modern  hang- 
men. Many  of  the  immediate  successors  of  Bran- 
don above-mentioned  were  called  Gregory.  Jack 
Ketch  did  not  give  entire  satisfaction.  It  is  re- 
corded in  Luttrell  that  Ketch  was  dispossessed  in 
favour  of  Pascal  Roose,  a  butcher,  who  served  only 
a  few  months,  when  Ketch  was  restored.  After 
Ketch,  John  Price  was  the  man,  a  pardoned  male- 
factor, who  could  not  resist  temptation,  and  was 
himself  executed  for  murder  by  some  one  else. 
Dennis,  the  hangman  at  the  Lord  George  Gordon 
riots,  had  also  been  sentenced  to  death  for  com- 
plicity, but  obtained  forgiveness  on  condition  that 
he  should  string  up  his  former  associates. 


204 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


They  did  their  work  roughly,  these  early  prac- 
titioners. Sometimes  the  rope  slipped  or  the  drop 
was  insufficient,  and  the  hangman  had  to  add  his 
weight,  assisted  by  that  of  zealous  spectators,  to 
the  sufferer's  legs  to  effect  strangulation.  Now 
and  again  the  rope  broke,  and  the  convict  had  to 
be  tied  up  a  second  time.  This  happened  with 
Captain  Kidd,  the  notorious  pirate,  who  was  per- 
fectly conscious  during  the  time  which  elapsed  be- 
fore he  was  again  tied  up.  The  friends  of  another 
pirate,  John  Gow,  were  anxious  to  put  him  out  of 
his  pain,  and  pulled  his  legs  so  hard,  that  the  rope 
broke  before  he  was  dead,  necessitating  the  repeti- 
tion of  the  whole  ceremony.  Even  when  the 
operation  had  been  successfully  performed,  the 
hanged  man  sometimes  cheated  the  gallows. 

There  are  several  well-authenticated  cases  of 
resuscitation  after  hanging,  due  doubtless  to  the 
rude  and  clumsy  plan  of  killing.  To  slide  off  a 
ladder  or  drop  from  a  cart  might  and  generally  did 
produce  asphyxia,  but  there  was  no  instantaneous 
fracture  of  the  vertebral  column  as  in  most  execu- 
tions of  modern  times.  The  earliest  case  on  record 
is  that  of  Tiretta  de  Balsham,  whom  Henry  III 
pardoned  in  1264  because  she  had  survived  hang- 
ing. As  she  is  said  to  have  been  suspended  from 
one  morning  till  sunrise  the  following  day,  it  is 
difficult  to  believe  the  story,  which  was  probably 
one  of  many  mediaeval  impostures.  Females,  how- 
ever, appear  to  have  had  more  such  escapes  than 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  205 

males.  Doctor  Ploto  gives  several  instances ;  one, 
that  of  Anne  Green,  who  in  1650  came  to  when  in 
the  hands  of  the  doctors  for  dissection;  another  of 
Mrs.  Cope,  hanged  at  Oxford  in  1658,  who  was  sus- 
pended for  an  unusually  long  period,  and  after- 
wards let  fall  violently,  yet  she  recovered,  only  to 
be  more  effectually  hanged  next  day.  A  third  sub- 
stantiated case  was  that  of  half -hanged  Maggie 
Dickson,  who  was  hanged  at  Edinburgh  in  1728, 
and  whom  the  jolting  of  the  cart  in  which  her  body 
was  removed  from  the  gallows  recovered.  The 
jolting  was  considered  so  infallible  a  recipe  for 
bringing  to,  that  it  was  generally  practised  by  an 
executed  man's  friends  in  Ireland,  where  also  the 
friends  were  in  the  habit  of  holding  up  the  convict 
^  by  his  waistband  after  he  had  dropped,  "  so  that 
4r  the  rope  should  not  press  upon  his  throat,"  the 
sheriff  philanthropically  pretending  not  to  see. 

Sir  William  Petty,  the  eminent  surgeon  in  Queen 
Anne's  time,  owed  his  scientific  fame  to  his  having 
resuscitated  a  woman  who  had  been  hanged.  The 
body  liad  been  begged,  as  was  the  custom,  for  the 
anatomical  lecture;  Petty  finding  symptoms  of  life, 
bled  her,  put  her  to  bed  with  another  woman,  and 
gave  her  spirits  and  other  restoratives.  She  re- 
covered, whereupon  the  students  subscribed  to  en- 
dow her  with  a  small  portion,  and  she  soon  after 
married  and  lived  for  fifteen  years.  The  case  of 
half -hanged  Smith  was  about  the  date  1705.  He 
was  reprieved,  but  the  reprieve  arrived  after  he  had 


^ 


2o6  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

been  strung  up;  he  was  taken  down,  bled,  and 
brought  to.  Smith  afterwards  described  his  sensa- 
tions minutely.  The  weight  of  his  body  when  he 
first  dropped  caused  him  great  pain ;  his  "  spirits  " 
forced  their  way  up  to  his  head  and  seemed  to  go 
out  at  his  eyes  with  a  great  blaze  of  light,  and  then 
all  pain  left  him.  But  on  his  resuscitation  the  blood 
and  "  spirits  "  forcing  themselves  into  their  proper 
channels  gave  him  such  intolerable  suffering  "  that 
he  could  have  wished  those  hanged  who  cut  him 
down."  William  Duell,  hanged  in  1740,  was  car- 
ried to  Surgeon's  Hall,  to  be  anatomized ;  but  as  his 
body  was  being  laid  out,  one  of  the  servants  who 
was  washing  him  perceived  that  he  was  still  alive. 
A  surgeon  bled  him,  and  in  two  hours  he  was  able  to 
sit  up  in  his  chair.  Later  in  the  evening  he  was  sent 
back  to  Newgate,  and  his  sentence  changed  to  trans- 
portation. In  1767,  a  man  who  had  hanged  for 
twenty-eight  minutes  was  operated  on  by  a  surgeon, 
who  made  an  incision  into  the  windpipe.  In  less 
than  six  hours  the  hanged  man  revived.  It  became 
a  constant  practice  for  a  condemned  man's  friends 
to  carry  off  the  body  directly  it  was  cut  down  to 
the  nearest  surgeon's,  who  at  once  operated  on  it 
by  bleeding,  and  so  forth.  The  plan  was  occa- 
sionally, but  rarely,  successful.  It  was  tried  with 
Doctor  Dodd,  who  was  promptly  carried  to  an  un- 
dertaker's in  Tottenham  Court  Road  and  placed  in  a 
hot  bath ;  but  he  had  been  too  well  hanged  for  re- 
covery.    A  report   was  long  current  that  Faunt- 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  207 

leroy  the  banker,  who  was  executed  for  forgery, 
had  been  resuscitated,  but  it  was  quite  without 
foundation. 

The  Tyburn  procession  survived  till  towards  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  had  many  sup- 
porters, Doctor  Johnson  among  the  number.  "  Sir," 
he  told  Boswell,  when  Tyburn  had  been  discon- 
tinued, "  executions  are  intended  to  draw  specta- 
tors. If  they  do  not  draw  spectators  they  do  not 
answer  their  purpose.  The  old  method  was  most 
satisfactory  to  all  parties :  the  public  was  gratified 
by  a  procession,  the  criminal  is  supported  by  it. 
Why  is  all  this  to  be  swept  away?"  The  reason 
is  given  by  the  sheriffs  in  the  year  1784,  and  it  is 
convincing.  In  a  pamphlet  published  that  year  it  is 
set  forth  that  the  procession  to  Tyburn  was  a 
hideous  mockery  on  the  law ;  the  final  scene  had 
lost  its  terrors;  it  taught  no  lesson  of  morality 
to  the  beholders,  but  tended  to  the  encouragement 
of  vice.  The  day  of  execution  was  deemed  a  public 
holiday  to  which  thousands  thronged,  many  to 
gratify  an  unaccountable  curiosity,  more  to  seize 
an  opportunity  for  committing  fresh  crimes.  "If 
we  take  a  view  of  the  supposed  solemnity  from  the 
time  at  which  the  criminal  leaves  the  prison  to  the 
last  moment  of  his  existence,  it  will  be  found  to  be 
a  period  full  of  the  most  shocking  and  disgraceful 
circumstances.  If  the  only  defect  were  the  want 
of  ceremony,  the  minds  of  the  spectators  might  be 
supposed  to  be  left  in  a  state  of  indifference;  but 


2o8  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

when  they  view  the  meanness  of  the  apparatus, 
the  dirty  cart  and  ragged  harness,  surrounded  by 
a  sordid  assemblage  of  the  lowest  among  the  vulgar, 
their  sentiments  are  inclined  more  to  ridicule  than 
pity.  The  whole  progress  is  attended  with  the  same 
effect.  Numbers  soon  thicken  into  a  crowd  of  fol- 
lowers, and  then  an  indecent  levity  is  heard."  The 
crowd  gathered  as  it  went,  the  levity  increased,  "  till 
on  reaching  the  fatal  tree  it  became  a  riotous  mob, 
and  their  wantonness  of  speech  broke  forth  in  pro- 
fane jokes,  swearing,  and  blasphemy."  The  officers 
of  the  law  were  powerless  to  check  the  tumult;  no 
attention  was  paid  to  the  convict's  dying  speech  — 
*'  an  exhortation  to  shun  a  vicious  life,  addressed 
to  thieves  actually  engaged  in  picking  pockets." 
The  culprit's  prayers  were  interrupted,  his  de- 
meanour if  resigned  was  sneered  at,  and  only  ap- 
plauded when  he  went  with  brazen  effrontery  to  his 
death.  "  Thus,"  says  the  pamphlet.  "  are  all  the 
ends  of  public  justice  defeated;  all  the  effects  of  ex- 
ample, the  terrors  of  death,  the  shame  of  punish- 
ment, are  all  lost."  ^ 

The  evils  it  was  hoped  might  be  obviated  "  were 
public  executions  conducted  with  becoming  form 
and  solemnity,  if  order  were  preserved  and  every 
tendency  to  disturb  it  suppressed."  Hence  the  place 
of  execution  was  changed  in  1784  from  "  Tyburn  to 
the  great  area  that  has  lately  been  opened  before 
Newgate."  The  sheriffs  were  doubtful  of  their 
power  to  make  alterations,  and  consulted  the  judges, 


NOTABLE    EXECUTIONS  209 

who  gave  it  as  their  opinion  that  it  was  within  the 
sheriffs'  competence.  "  With  this  sanction,  there- 
fore," the  sheriffs  go  on  to  say,  "  we  have  pro- 
ceeded, and  instead  of  carting  the  criminals  through 
the  streets  to  Tyburn,  the  sentence  of  death  is  exe- 
cuted in  the  front  of  Newgate,  where  upwards  of 
five  thousand  persons  may  easily  assemble;  here  a 
temporary  scaffold  hung  with  black  is  erected,  and 
no  other  persons  are  permitted  to  ascend  it  than  the 
necessary  officers  of  justice,  the  clergyman,  and 
the  criminal,  and  the  crowd  is  kept  at  a  proper 
distance.  During  the  whole  time  of  the  execution 
a  funeral  bell  is  tolled  in  Newgate,  and  the  prisoners 
are  kept  in  the  strictest  order. 

The  horrors  of  executions  were  but  little  di- 
minished by  the  substitution  of  the  Old  Bailey  as 
the  scene.  Seventy-four  years  were  to  elapse  be- 
fore the  wisdom  of  legislators  and  the  good  sense 
of  the  public  insisted  that  the  extreme  penalty  of 
the  law  should  be  carried  out  in  strictest  privacy 
within  the  walls  of  the  gaol. 


CHAPTER  VII 

REMARKABLE     ESCAPES 

Escapes  from  Newgate  mostly  commonplace  —  Causes  of 
escapes  —  Mediaeval  prison  breaking  —  Scheme  of  escape  in 
a  coffin  —  Other  methods  —  Changing  clothes  —  Setting  fire 
to  prison  —  Connivance  of  keepers  —  Ordinary  devices  — 
Quarrying  walls,  taking  up  floors,  cutting  of  fetters  — 
Jack  Sheppard  —  His  escapes  from  Newgate  —  His  cap- 
ture—  Special  instructions  from  Secretary  of  State  for  his 
speedy  trial  and  execution  —  Burnworth's  attempt  —  Joshua 
Dean  —  Daniel  Maiden's  two  escapes  —  His  personal  narra- 
tive and  account  of  his  recapture  —  Stratagem  and  disguise 
—  Female  clothing  —  Mr.  Barlow  the  Jacobite  detected  in 
a  woman's  dress  and  taken  to  the  Old  Bailey  —  General 
Forster's  escape  —  Mr.  Pitt  the  governor  suspended  and 
suspected  of  complicity  —  Brigadier  Macintosh  and  fifteen 
other  Jacobites  escape  —  Some  retaken  —  Mr.  RatcliflFe  gets 
away  —  Again  in  trouble  and  executed  in  1745. 

Escapes  from  Newgate  have  been  numerous 
enough,  but  except  in  a  few  cases  not  particularly 
remarkable.  They  miss  the  extraordinary  features 
of  celebrated  evasions,  such  as  those  of  Casanova 
Von  Trenck  and  Latude.  The  heroes  of  Newgate, 
too,  were  mostly  commonplace  criminals.  There 
was  but  little  romance  about  their  misdeeds,  and 
they  scarcely  excite  the  sympathy  which  we  cannot 

210 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  211 

deny  to  victims  of  tyrannical  oppression  immured 
under  the  Piombi  of  Venice  or  in  the  Bastile,  They 
lacked  aptitude,  moreover,  or  perhaps  opportunity, 
to  weave  their  stories  into  thrilling  narratives,  such 
as  have  been  preserved  from  the  pens  of  more 
scholarly  prisoners.  Hence  the  chronicle  of  New- 
gate is  somewhat  bald  and  uninteresting  as  regards 
escapes.  It  rings  the  changes  upon  conventional 
stratagems  and  schemes.  All  more  or  less  bear 
testimony  to  the  cunning  and  adroitness  of  the 
prisoners,  but  all  equally  prove  the  keepers'  care- 
lessness or  cupidity.  An  escape  from  prison  argues 
always  a  want  of  precaution.  This  may  come  of 
mere  neglectfulness,  or  it  may  be  bought  at  a  price. 
Against  bribery  there  can  be  no  protection,  but 
long  experience  has  established  the  watchful  super- 
vision, which  to-day  avails  more  than  bolts  and 
bars  and  blocks  of  stone.  A  prisoner  can  sooner 
win  through  a  massive  wall  than  elude  a  keen-eyed 
warder's  care.  Hence  in  all  modern  prison  con- 
struction the  old  idea  of  mere  solidity  has  been 
abandoned,  and  reliance  is  placed  ratlier  upon  the 
upright  intelligence  of  that  which  we  may  term 
the  prison  police.  The  minute  inspection  of  cells 
and  other  parts  occupied  by  prisoners ;  the  examina- 
tion of  the  prisoners  themselves  at  uncertain  times ; 
above  all,  the  intimate  acquaintance  which  those  in 
authority  should  have  of  the  movements  and  doings 
of  their  charges  at  all  seasons  —  these  are  the  best 
safeguards  against  escapes. 


212  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

In  early  days  attempts  to  break  prison  were  gen- 
erally rude  and  imperfect.  Now  and  again  a  rescue 
was  accomplished  by  force,  at  risk,  however,  of  a 
levee  of  the  citizens  in  vindication  of  the  law.  This 
was  the  case  in  1439,  when  Phillip  Malpas  and 
Robert  Marshall,  the  sheriffs  of  London,  recovered 
a  prisoner  who  had  been  snatched  from  their  of- 
ficers' hands.  Sometimes  the  escape  followed  a 
riotous  upheaval  of  the  inmates  of  Newgate,  as 
when  two  of  the  Percies  and  Lord  Egremond  were 
committed  to  Newgate  for  an  affray  in  the  North 
Country  betv^^een  them  and  Lord  Salisbury's  sons. 
Soon  after  their  committal  these  turbulent  aristo- 
crats "broke  out  of  prison  and  went  to  the  king; 
the  other  prisoners  took  to  the  leads  of  the  gate, 
and  defended  it  a  long  while  against  the  sheriffs 
and  all  their  officers,"  till  eventually  the  aid  of  the 
citizens  had  to  be  called  in.  In  1520  a  prisoner  who 
was  so  weak  and  ill  that  he  had  to  be  let  down  out  of 
Newgate  in  a  basket  broke  through  the  people  in  the 
Sessions  Hall,  and  took  sanctuary  in  Grey  Friars 
Church.  The  rest  of  the  story,  as  told  by  Holin- 
shed,  states  that  after  staying  six  or  seven  days  in 
the  church,  before  the  sheriffs  could  speak  with 
him,  "  because  he  would  not  abjure  (the  country) 
and  asked  a  crowner,  they  took  him  hence,  with 
violence,  and  cast  him  again  into  prison,  but  the 
law  served  not  to  hang  him." 

In  the  "  Calendar  of  State  Papers,"  under  date 
1593,   there   is   a   reference   to   a   more   ingenious 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES 


213 


method  of  compassing  the  enlargement  of  a  pris- 
oner. The  scheme  was  to  convey  a  Hving  body  out 
of  Newgate  in  a  coffin,  instead  of  the  dead  one  for 
which  it  had  been  prepared.  The  prisoner  was  a 
member  of  the  congregation  or  secret  conventicle, 
and  the  coffin  had  been  made  by  subscription  of  the 
whole  society,  at  a  cost  of  four  and  eightpence. 
The  State  Papers  give  the  examination  of  one 
Christopher  Bowman,  a  goldsmith,  on  the  subject, 
but  unfortunately  gives  few  details  as  to  the 
meditated  escape.  The  idea  was  to  write  a  wrong 
name  on  the  coffin-lid,  and  no  doubt  to  trust  to  a 
corrupt  officer  within  the  prison  for  the  substitution 
of  the  bodies.  I  find  another  curious  but  brief 
reference  to  escapes  in  the  State  Papers  about  this 
date.  It  is  the  endorsement  of  "  the  examination 
of  Robert  Bellamy,  of  the  manner  of  his  escape 
from  Newgate,  from  thence  to  Scotland,  and 
then  over  to  Hamburgh.  His  arrest  in  the  Pals- 
grave's country,  and  his  conveyance  to  Duke  Cas- 


imir." 


As  time  passed  the  records  become  fuller,  and 
there  is  more  variety  in  the  operations  of  the  pris- 
oners in  their  efforts  towards  freedom.  In  1663 
a  man  escaped  by  his  wife  changing  clothes  with 
him,  and  got  into  a  hole  between  two  walls  in 
Thomas  Court ;  "  but  though  he  had  a  rug  and 
food,  yet  the  night  being  wet  he  wanted  beer,  and 
peeping  out,  he  was  taken,  is  brought  back  prisoner, 
and  will,  it  is  thought,  be  hanged."     Sometimes  the 


214  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

prisoners  rose  against  their  keepers,  and  tried  to  set 
the  prison  on  fire,  hoping  to  get  out  during  the  con- 
fusion. This  was  repeatedly  tried.  In  1615,  for 
instance,  and  again  in  1692,  when  the  prison  was 
actually  alight ;  but  the  fire  was  discovered  just  as 
certain  of  the  prisoners  were  in  the  act  of  breaking 
open  the  prison  gates.  Sometimes  no  violence  was 
used,  but  the  prisoner  walked  off  with  the  con- 
nivance of  his  keeper.  This  was  what  occurred 
with  Sir  Nicholas  Poyntz,  who  escaped  between 
Newgate  and  the  King's  Bench,  on  the  road  to  the 
latter  prison,  to  which  he  was  being  transferred. 
The  references  to  this  case  throw  some  light  upon 
the  interior  of  Newgate  in  the  year  1623.  Poyntz 
had  been  arrested  for  killing  a  man  in  a  street 
brawl.  He  had  been  committed  first  to  the  King's 
Bench,  whence,  on  pretence  of  his  having  excited 
a  mutiny  in  that  prison,  he  was  transferred  to  New- 
gate, and  lodged  in  a  dungeon  without  bed  or  light, 
and  compelled  to  lie  in  a  coffin.  All  this  he  sets 
forth  in  a  petition  to  the  high  and  mighty  prince, 
George,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  for  whose  use  he 
paid  the  sum  of  £500  to  Sir  Edward  Villiers,  and 
prays  that  he  may  have  leave  to  sue  out  his  Habeas 
Corpus,  or  have  back  his  money.  No  notice  having 
been  taken  of  this  appeal,  he  made  shift  for  himself 
in  the  manner  described.  He  was  soon  afterwards 
retaken,  as  appears  from  other  petitions  from  the 
under-sheriffs,  against  whom  actions  had  been  com- 
menced for  allowing  the  escape. 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  215 

Another  somewhat  similar  case  is  reported  in 
1635,  where  the  deputy  keeper  of  Newgate,  Edward 
James  by  name,  was  attached  and  committed  to  the 
Fleet  for  allowing  Edward  Lunsford,  a  prisoner 
in  his  custody,  to  go  at  large.  Lunsford  was  con- 
cerned with  Lewis  and  others  in  a  foul  attempt  to 
kill  Sir  Thomas  Pelham,  on  a  Sunday  going  to 
church,  and  committed  under  an  order  of  the  Star 
Chamber  to  Newgate,  where  he  lay  for  a  year. 
His  imprisonment  was  from  time  to  time  relaxed 
by  James :  first  that  he  might  prosecute  his  suit  to  a 
gentlewoman  worth  £10,000;  and  afterwards  on 
account  of  the  prosecutions  against  him  in  the  Star 
Chamber ;  ultimately  on  account  of  his  lameness  and 
sickness  James  gave  him  liberty  for  the  recovery 
of  his  health,  and  he  was  allowed  to  lodge  out  of 
prison,  his  father  being  his  surety,  and  promising 
that  he  should  be  produced  when  required.  But  he 
abused  his  kindness,  and  instead  of  showing  him- 
self at  regular  periods  to  the  keeper,  made  off  alto- 
gether. All  this  is  stated  in  a  petition  from  James, 
who  prays  for  enlargement  on  bail  that  he  may  pur- 
sue and  recapture  Lunsford.  "  Lunsford  is  so  lame 
that  he  can  only  go  in  a  coach,  and  though  it  is  re- 
ported that  he  has  been  at  Gravelines  and  Cologne, 
yet  he  had  been  seen  in  town  within  ten  days." 
This  petition,  which  is  in  the  State  Papers,  is  under- 
written that  the  Attorney-General  be  directed  to 
prosecute  the  petitioner  in  the  Star  Chamber,  and 
upon   it  are   Secretary  Windebank's  notes;  to  the 


2i6  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

effect  that  James  had  received  a  bribe  of  £14  to 
allow  Liinsford  and  his  companions  to  go  abroad 
without  a  warrant,  and  one  of  them  to  escape. 
Various  sentences  were  proposed.  Lord  Cottington 
suggested  that  James  should  pay  a  fine  of  £1,000 
to  the  king,  imprisonment  during  pleasure,  to  be 
bound  to  good  behaviour  when  he  comes  out,  and 
acknowledgments.  Secretary  Windebank  added 
that  he  should  be  put  from  his  place;  the  earl 
marshal  suggested  standing  with  a  paper  in  West- 
minster Hall,  and  prosecution  of  the  principal 
keeper;  Archbishop  Laud  concluded  with  whipping, 
and  that  the  chief  keeper  should  be  sent  for  to  the 
Council  Board. 

The  ordinary  methods  of  attempting  escape  were 
common  enough  in  Newgate.  Quarrying  into  the 
walls,  breaking  up  floors,  sawing  through  bars, 
and  picking  locks  were  frequent  devices  to  gain 
release.  In  1679  several  prisoners  picked  out  the 
stones  of  the  prison  walls,  and  seven  who  had  been 
committed  to  Newgate  for  burglary  escaped.  No 
part  of  the  prison  was  safe  from  attack,  provided 
only  the  prisoners  had  leisure  and  were  unobserved, 
both  of  which  were  almost  a  matter  of  course. 
Now  it  is  a  passage  through  the  back  of  a  chimney 
in  a  room  occupied  by  the  prisoner,  now  a  hole 
through  a  wall  into  a  house  adjoining  the  prison. 
Extraordinary  perseverance  is  displayed  in  dealing 
with  uncompromising  material.  The  meanest  and 
seemingly  most  insufficient  weapons  served.     Bars 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  217 

are  sawn  through  Hke  butter ;  ^  prisoners  rid  them- 
selves of  their  irons  as  though  they  were  old  rags; 
one  man  takes  a  bar  out  of  the  chapel  window, 
climbs  through,  and  gets  away  over  the  house-tops ; 
a  gang  working  in  association  saw  through  eight 
bars,  "  each  as  thick  as  a  man's  wrist,  leaving 
enough  iron  to  keep  the  bars  together,  and  fitting 
up  the  notches  with  dirt  and  iron-rust  to  prevent 
discovery ;  "  but  they  are  detected  in  time,  and  for 
proper  security  are  all  chained  to  the  floor.  Another 
lot  are  discovered  "  working  with  large  iron 
crows,"  meaning  to  get  through  the  floor.  On  this 
occasion  "  a  great  lot  of  saws,  files,  pins,  and  other 
tools "  were  found  among  the  prisoners,  plainly 
revealing  the  almost  inconceivable  license  and  care- 
lessness prevailing.  Again,  two  men  under  sen- 
tence of  death  found  means  to  break  out  of  New- 
gate "  through  walls  six  feet  in  thickness."  They 
were  brothers,  and  one  of  them  being  ill,  he  was  out 
of  humanity  removed  from  his  cell  to  an  upper 
room,  where  the  other  was  suffered  to  attend  him. 
As  they  were  both  bricklayers  by  trade,  they  easily 
worked  through  the  wall  in  a  night,  and  so  escaped. 
They  were,  however,  retaken  and  hanged.  The 
ease  with  which  irons  are  slipped  is  shown  re- 
peatedly.   One  man  having  attempted  to  escape  was 

'The  most  ingenious  and  painstaking  attempt  of  this  kind 
was  that  made  by  some  Thugs  awaiting  sentence  in  India, 
who  sawed  through  the  bars  of  their  prison  with  packthread 
smeared  with  oil  and  coated  with  fine  stone-dust. 


2i8  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

as  usual  chained  to  the  floor,  yet  he  managed  to  get 
himself  loose  from  an  iron  collar  in  which  his  neck 
was  fastened  and  his  hands  extended.  This  man, 
when  disengaged  from  the  floor,  had  the  resolution 
to  wring  the  collar  from  his  neck  by  fixing  it  be- 
tween two  of  the  bars  of  the  gaol  window,  and  thus 
by  main  strength  he  broke  it  in  two.  Others  cut 
through  their  handcuffs  and  shackles  two  or  three 
times  in  succession  with  the  ease  of  the  Davenport 
brothers  freeing  themselves   from  bonds. 

Jack  Sheppard's  escapes  from  Newgate  are 
historical,  although  much  embellished  by  the 
novelist's  art.  Sheppard's  success  was  really  mar- 
vellous, but  it  may  be  explained  to  some  extent  by 
his  indomitable  pluck,  his  ingenuity,  and  his  per- 
sonal activity.  As  he  was  still  quite  a  lad  when  he 
was  hanged  in  1724,  he  could  have  been  barely 
twenty-two  at  the  time  of  his  escapes.  In  the 
proclamation  for  his  apprehension  after  his  second 
escape,  he  is  described  as  about  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  five  feet  four  inches  in  height,  very  slender, 
of  a  pale  complexion,  having  an  impediment  or 
hesitation  in  his  speech  and  wearing  a  butcher's  blue 
frock  with  a  greatcoat  over  it ;  a  carpenter  or  house- 
joiner  by  trade.  Twenty  guineas  reward  was  of- 
fered to  any  who  might  discover  or  apprehend  him. 
From  his  early  apprenticeship  to  a  carpenter  he  had 
much  skill  and  knowledge  in  the  handling  of  tools. 
He  first  became  celebrated  as  a  prison-breaker  by  his 
escapes  from  the  St.  Giles's  Round  House  and  from 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES 


219 


the  New  Prison.  His  first  escape,  from  the  con- 
demned hold  of  Kewgate,  where  he  lay  under  sen- 
tence of  death,  was  more  a  proof  of  ingenuity  than 
of  prowess.  The  usual  neglect  of  proper  precautions 
allowed  two  female  visitors  to  have  access  to  him 
and  to  supply  him  with  tools,  probably  a  file  and 
saw.  With  these  he  partly  divided  a  spike  on  the 
top  of  the  hatch  which  led  from  the  condemned 
hold. 

Upon  a  second  visit  from  his  fair  friends  he 
broke  off  the  spike,  squeezed  his  head  and  shoulders 
through  the  opening,  the  women  then  pulling  him 
through.  How  he  got  past  the  lodge  where  the 
turnkeys  were  carousing  is  not  recorded,  but  it  was 
probably  in  female  disguise.  His  second  escape, 
following  his  recapture,  and  a  second  sentence  of 
death,  was  much  more  remarkable.  This  escape 
was,  however,  only  rendered  possible  by  the  negli- 
gence of  his  keepers.  They  visited  him  at  dinner- 
time, and  after  a  careful  examination  of  his  irons, 
having  satisfied  themselves  that  he  was  quite  secure, 
left  him  for  the  day.  Released  thus  from  all  sur- 
veillance, time  was  all  that  Sheppard  needed  to 
effect  his  escape. 

He  had  been  chained  to  the  floor  by  heavy  irons, 
which  were  riveted  into  a  staple  fixed  in  the  ground. 
Various  fancy  sketches  exist  of  the  means  of  re- 
straint employed,  but  none  can  be  relied  upon  as 
accurate  or  authentic.  Some  irons  still  in  existence 
at  Newgate  may  be  akin  to  those  by  which  Shep- 


220  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

pard  was  secured,  but  they  are  hardly  the  identical 
fetters.  Sheppard  was  also  handcuffed.  He  is  said 
to  have  rid  himself  of  these  by  holding  the  con- 
necting chain  firmly  between  his  teeth,  squeezing 
his  fingers  as  small  as  possible,  and  drawing  the 
manacles  off.  "  He  next  twisted  the  gyves,^  the 
heavy  gyves,  round  and  round,  and  partly  by  main 
strength,  partly  by  a  dexterous,  well-applied  jerk, 
snapped  assunder  the  central  link  by  which  they 
were  attached  to  the  padlock."  He  was  now  free 
to  move  about,  but  the  basils  still  confined  his 
ankles,  and  he  dragged  at  every  step  the  long  con- 
necting chain.  He  drew  up  the  basils  on  his  calf, 
and  removing  his  stockings,  used  them  to  tie  up  the 
chains  to  his  legs.  He  first  attempted  to  climb  up 
the  chimney,  but  his  upward  progress  was  impeded 
by  an  iron  bar  that  crossed  the  aperture.  He  de- 
scended, therefore,  and  from  the  outside,  with  a 
piece  of  his  broken  chain  set  to  work  to  pick  out  the 
stones  and  bricks  so  as  to  release  the  bar.  This 
he  accomplished  and  thus  obtained  an  implement 
about  an  inch  square  and  nearly  a  yard  long,  which 
was  of  the  utmost  service  to  him  in  his  further 
operations.  The  room  in  which  he  had  been  con- 
fined was  a  part  of  the  so-called  "  castle ;  "  above 
it  was  the  "  Red-room,"  and  into  this  he  effected 
an  entrance  by  climbing  the  chimney  and  making 

*  Taken  from  the  text  of  Ainsworth's  novel,  which  gives 
a  clear  and  picturesque  account.  It  is  also  accurate,  and 
based  on  the  best  accounts  extant. 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  221 

a  fresh  hole  on  the  level  of  the  floor  above.  In  the 
"  Red-room  "  he  found  a  rusty  nail,  with  which  he 
tried  to  pick  the  lock,  but  failing  in  this,  he 
wrenched  off  the  plate  that  covered  the  bolt  and 
forced  the  bolt  back  with  his  fingers.  This  Red- 
room  door  opened  on  to  a  dark  passage  leading  to 
the  chapel.  There  was  a  door  in  it  which  he  opened 
by  making  a  hole  in  the  wall  and  pushing  the  bolt 
back,  and  so  reached  the  chapel.  Thence  he  got 
into  an  entry  between  the  chapel  and  the  lower 
leads.  "  The  door  of  this  entry  was  very  strong,^ 
and  fastened  with  a  great  lock.  What  was  worse, 
the  night  had  now  overtaken  him,  and  he  was  forced 
to  work  in  the  dark.  However,  in  half  an  hour,  by 
the  help  of  the  great  nail,  the  chapel  spike,  and  the 
iron  bar,  he  forced  off  the  box  of  the  lock  and 
opened  the  door  which  led  him  to  another  yet  more 
difficult,  for  it  was  not  only  locked,  but  barred  and 
bolted.  When  he  had  tried  in  vain  to  make  this 
lock  and  box  give  way,  he  wrenched  the  fillet  from 
the  main  post  of  the  door  and  the  box  and  staples 
came  off  with  it.  .  .  .  There  was  yet  another  door 
betwixt  him  and  the  lower  leads ;  but  it  being  bolted 
within  side  he  opened  it  easily,  and  mounting  to 
the  top  of  it  he  got  over  the  wall  and  so  to  the 
upper  leads."  All  that  remained  for  him  to  do  was 
to  descend.  There  was  a  house  adjoining,  that  of 
Mr.  Bird,  a  turner,  on  to  which  he  might  drop,  but 

'  Quoted    from   the   "  Tyburn    Calendar,"    the    wording   of 
which  is  copied  in  all  other  accounts. 


222  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

he  deemed  the  leap  too  dangerous,  and  coolly  re- 
solved to  retrace  his  steps  to  the  prison  chamber, 
from  whence  he  had  so  laboriously  issued,  and 
secure  his  blanket.  Having  accomplished  this  risky 
service,  he  returned  to  the  leads,  made  fast  his 
blanket,  slid  down  it,  entered  the  turner's  house  by 
a  garret  window,  and  eventually,  after  some  delay 
and  no  little  danger  of  detection,  got  away  down 
into  the  street. 

Mr.  Austin,  the  Newgate  turnkey,  who  was 
specially  in  charge  of  Sheppard,  and  who,  on  un- 
bolting the  castle  strong  room  next  morning,  found 
that  his  prisoner  was  gone,  was  amazed  beyond 
measure.  The  whole  of  the  prison  warders  ran  up, 
and  at  sight  of  the  cart-loads  of  rubbish  and  debris 
"  stood  like  men  deprived  of  their  senses."  After 
their  first  surprise  they  got  their  keys  to  open  the 
neighbouring  strong  rooms,  hoping  that  he  might 
not  have  got  entirely  away.  It  was  not  difficult  to 
follow  his  track.  Six  great  doors,  one  of  which 
it  was  said  had  not  been  opened  for  seven  years, 
had  been  forced,  and  their  massive  locks,  screws, 
and  bolts  lay  broken  in  pieces,  and  scattered  about 
the  gaol.  Last  of  all  they  came  to  the  blanket  hang- 
ing pendent  from  the  leads,  and  it  was  plain  that 
Sheppard  was  already  far  beyond  pursuit. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  mention  here  that  he 
was  recaptured,  mainly  through  his  own  negligence 
and  drunkenness,  within  a  fortnight  of  his  escape. 
In  the  interval,  after  ridding  himself  of  his  irons, 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  223 

he  had  committed  several  fresh  robberies,  the  most 
successful  being  a  burglary  at  a  pawnbroker's, 
where  he  furnished  himself  with  the  fine  suit, 
sword,  and  snuff-box  he  possessed  at  the  time  of 
his  arrest.  "  When  he  was  brought  back  to  the 
gaol,"  says  a  contemporary  account,  "  he  was  very 
drunk,  carry'd  himself  insolently,  defy'd  the 
keepers  to  hold  him  with  all  their  irons,  art,  and 
skill."  He  was  by  this  time  quite  a  notorious  per- 
sonage. "  Nothing  contributes  so  much  to  the 
entertainment  of  the  town  at  present,"  says  another 
journal  of  the  time,  "  as  the  adventures  of  the 
house-breaker  and  gaol-breaker,  John  Sheppard. 
'Tis  thought  the  keepers  of  Newgate  have  got  above 
£200  already  by  the  crowds  who  daily  flock  to  see 
him."  "  On  Wednesday  several  noblemen  visited 
him."  He  sat  for  his  portrait  to  Sir  James  Thorn- 
hill,  the  eminent  painter,^  and  the  likeness  was  re- 

^  The  following  stanzas  were  written  at  the  time,  and  ap- 
peared in  the  British  Journal  of  Nov.  28,  1724: 
"  Thornhill,  'tis  thine  to  gild  with  fame 
The  obscure  and  raise  the  humble  name; 
To  make  the  form  elude  the  grave. 
And   Sheppard   from   oblivion  save. 
Tho'  life  in  vain  the  wretch  implores, 
An  exile  on  the  farthest  shores. 
Thy  pencil  brings  a  kind  reprieve, 
And  bids  the  dying  robber  live. 


Apelles  Alexander  drew, 

Caesar  is  to  Aurelius  due, 

Cromwell  in  Lilly's  works  doth  shine, 

And  Sheppard,  Thornhill,  lives  in  thine." 


224  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

produced  in  a  mezzotint  which  had  a  large  circula- 
tion. Seven  different  histories  or  narratives  of  his 
adventures  were  published  and  illustrated  with 
numerous  engravings.  His  importance  was  further 
increased  by  the  special  instructions  issued  to  the 
Attorney-General  to  bring  him  to  immediate  trial. 
A  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  then  Sec- 
retary of  State,  is  preserved  in  the  Hardwicke 
MSS.,  wherein  that  great  official  condescends  to 
convey  the  king's  commands  to  Sir  Philip  Yorke 
that  Sheppard,  having  made  two  very  extraordinary 
escapes,  and  being  a  very  dangerous  person,  should 
be  forthwith  brought  to  trial,  "  to  the  end  that 
execution  may  without  delay  be  awarded  against 
him."  This  letter  is  dated  the  6th  November;  he 
was  arraigned  on  the  loth,  found  guilty,  and  sen- 
tenced the  same  day.  His  execution  took  place  on 
the  1 6th  November,  just  one  month  after  his  escape. 
He  exhibited  great  coolness  and  effrontery  during 
his  trial.  He  told  the  court  that  if  they  would  let 
his  handcuffs  be  put  on  he  by  his  art  would  take 
them  off  before  their  faces.  The  largest  crowds 
ever  seen  in  London  paid  testimony  to  his  notoriety 
as  he  passed  through  the  streets;  and  Westminster 
Hall  had  not  been  so  densely  thronged  in  the 
memory  of  man  as  at  the  time  of  his  trial.  No 
pains  were  spared  to  ensure  his  safe  custody  in 
Newgate.  He  was  chained  to  the  floor  in  the  con- 
demned hold,  and  constantly  watched  night  and 
day  by  two  guards. 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  225 

But  up  to  the  last  Sheppard  entertained  schemes 
for  eluding-  justice.  He  had  obtained  a  penknife 
by  some  means  or  other,  and  he  had  intended  to  cut 
his  cords  while  actually  in  the  cart  going  to  Tyburn, 
throw  himself  in  amongst  the  crowd  at  a  place 
called  Little  Turnstile,  and  run  for  his  life  through 
the  narrow  passage,  along  which  the  mounted  of- 
ficers could  not  follow  him.  But  this  plan  was 
nullified  by  the  discovery  of  the  knife  on  his  person 
just  before  he  left  Newgate.  It  is  said  that  he  had 
also  hopes  of  resuscitation,  and  that  friends  had 
agreed  to  cut  him  down  promptly,  and  to  apply  the 
usual  restoratives.  This  scheme,  if  it  had  ever 
existed,  was  probably  rendered  abortive  by  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  mob  after  the  execution. 

Sheppard  had  many  imitators,  but  few  equals. 
Possibly  the  ease  with  which  he  broke  prison  led 
to  an  increase  in  precautions,  and  I  can  find  no 
other  cases  of  evasion  in  Jack  Sheppard's  manner. 
There  are  several  instances  of  attempted  escapes  by 
the  reverse  process,  not  over  the  walls,  but  through 
them  or  along  the  sewers.  Burnworth,  while  in 
Newgate  in  1726,  projected  a  plan  of  escape.  He 
got  an  iron  crow,  and  assisted  by  certain  prisoners, 
pulled  stones  out  of  the  walls,  while  others  sung 
psalms  to  put  the  turnkeys  off  their  guard.  Next 
day  the  officers  came  to  remove  five  convicts  await- 
ing execution,  but  found  the  room  so  full  of  stones 
and  rubbish  that  some  hours  elapsed  before  the 
prisoners  could  be  got  out,  and  Burnworth  was  still 


226  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

in  durance.  Joshua  Dean,  capitally  convicted  in 
1 73 1  for  counterfeiting  stamps,  formed  a  design 
with  seven  other  prisoners  awaiting  transportation 
to  the  plantations  to  break  gaol.  They  found  means 
to  get  down  into  the  common  sewer,  no  doubt  by 
taking  up  the  floor.  Thence  four  of  them  reached 
a  vault  under  a  house  in  Fleet  Lane,  and  so  into 
the  shop,  through  which  three  got  off,  but  the  fourth 
was  secured  and  carried  back  to  Newgate.  The 
fate  of  two  at  least  of  the  remaining  three  was  not 
known  till  long  afterwards.  In  1736,  a  certain 
Daniel  Maiden,  who  had  already  escaped  once, 
again  got  out  of  Newgate,  by  sawing  his  chains 
near  the  staple  with  which  they  were  fastened  to 
the  wall  of  the  condemned  hold  and  getting  through 
the  brickwork  and  dropping  into  the  common  sewer. 
"  Several  persons  were  employed  to  search  after 
him,  but  to  no  purpose,  though  the  chains  about 
him  weighed  nearly  a  hundred  pounds."  Maiden 
was  not  discovered,  but  the  searchers  came  upon 
"  the  bodies  of  two  persons  who  had  been  smothered 
in  trying  to  escape."  These  were  no  doubt  two  of 
those  mentioned  above.  This  method  of  evasion 
continued  to  be  practised  till  long  afterwards.  In 
1785  two  convicts  cut  a  hole  in  the  floor  of  their 
cell,  and  got  into  the  common  sewer  to  make  their 
escape.  "  But  wading  till  they  were  almost  suf- 
focated, they  at  length  reached  the  gully-hole,  and 
calling  for  help,  were  taken  out  alive,  but  too  weak 
to  walk,  and  carried  to  their  former  quarters." 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  227 

Daniel  Maiden,  who  twice  in  successive  years 
escaped  from  the  condemned  hold  in  Newgate,  in  a 
manner  little  less  surprising,  although  less  notorious, 
than  Jack  Sheppard,  had  been  a  man-of-war's  man, 
and  served  on  several  of  his  Majesty's  ships.  After 
his  discharge  he  took  to  burglary  and  street-rob- 
beries, for  which  he  was  presently  arrested  and  sen- 
tenced to  suffer  death.  While  lying  in  the  con- 
demned hold,  on  the  very  morning  of  his  execution 
he  effected  his  escape.  A  previous  occupant  of  the 
same  cell  in  the  condemned  hold  had  told  him  that 
a  certain  plank  was  loose  in  the  floor,  which  he 
found  to  be  true.  Accordingly,  between  ten  and 
eleven  on  the  night  of  October  21,  1736,  before 
execution,  he  began  to  work,  and  raised  up  the 
plank  with  the  foot  of  a  stool  that  was  in  the  cell. 
He  soon  made  a  hole  through  the  arch  under  the 
floor  big  enough  for  his  body  to  pass  through,  and 
so  dropped  into  a  cell  below  from  which  another 
convict  had  previously  escaped.  The  window-bar 
of  this  cell  remained  cut  just  as  it  had  been  left  after 
this  last  escape,  and  Maiden  easily  climbed  through 
with  all  his  irons  still  on  him  into  the  press-yard. 
When  there  he  waited  a  bit,  till,  seeing  "  all  things 
quiet,"  he  pulled  off  his  shoes  and  went  softly  up 
into  the  chapel,  where  he  observed  a  small  breach  in 
the  wall.  He  enlarged  it  and  so  got  into  the  pent- 
house. Making  his  way  through  the  penthouse,  he 
passed  on  to  the  roof.  At  last,  using  his  own  words, 
'*  I  got  upon  the  top  of  the  cells  by  the  ordinary's 


228         CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

house,  having  made  my  way  from  the  top  of  the 
chapel  upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  all  round 
the  chimneys  of  the  cells  over  the  ordinary's 
house;"  from  this  he  climbed  along  the  roofs  to 
that  of  an  empty  house,  and  finding  one  of  the 
garret  windows  open,  entered  it  and  passed  down 
three  pairs  of  stairs  into  the  kitchen,  where  he  put 
on  his  shoes  again,  "  which  I  had  made  shift  to 
carry  in  my  hand  all  the  way  I  came,  and  with 
rags  and  pieces  of  my  jacket  wrapped  my  irons 
close  to  my  legs  as  if  I  had  been  gouty  or  lame; 
then  I  got  out  at  the  kitchen  window,  up  one  pair 
of  stairs  into  Phoenix  Court,  and  from  thence 
through  the  streets  to  my  home  in  Nightingale 
Lane." 

Here  he  lay  till  six  o'clock,  then  sent  for  a  smith, 
who  knocked  off  his  irons,  and  took  them  away 
with  him  for  his  pains.  Then  he  asked  for  his  wife, 
who  came  to  him ;  but  wdiile  they  were  at  breakfast, 
hearing  a  noise  in  the  yard,  he  made  off,  and  took 
refuge  at  Mrs.  Newman's,  "  the  sign  of  the  Black- 
boy,  Millbank;  there  I  was  kept  private  and  locked 
up  four  days  alone  and  no  soul  by  myself." 

Venturing  out  on  the  fifth  day,  he  heard  they 
were  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  again  took  refuge,  this 
time  in  the  house  of  a  Mrs.  Franklin.  From  thence 
he  despatched  a  shoemaker  with  a  message  to  his 
wife,  and  letters  to  two  gentlemen  in  the  city.  But 
the  messenger  betrayed  him  to  the  Newgate  officers, 
and  in  about  an  hour  "  the  house  was  beset.     I  hid 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES 


229 


myself,"  says  Maiden,  "  behind  the  shutters  in  the 
yard,  and  my  wife  was  drinking  tea  in  the  house. 
The  keepers,  seeing  her,  cried,  *  Your  humble 
servant,  madam;  where  is  your  spouse?'  I  heard 
them,  and  knowing  I  was  not  safe,  endeavoured  to 
get  over  a  wall,  when  some  of  them  espyed  me, 
crying,  *  Here  he  is ! '  upon  which  they  immediately 
laid  hold  of  me,  carried  me  back  to  Newgate,  put 
me  into  the  old  condemned  hold  as  the  strongest 
place,  and  stapled  me  down  to  the  floor." 

Nothing  daunted  by  this  first  failure,  he  re- 
solved to  attempt  a  second  escape.  A  fellow  pris- 
oner conveyed  a  knife  to  him,  and  on  the  night  of 
June  6,  1737,  he  began  to  saw  the  staple  to  which  he 
was  fastened  in  two.  His  own  story  is  worth 
quoting. 

"  I  worked  through  it  with  much  difficulty,  and 
with  one  of  my  irons  wrenched  it  open  and  got  it 
loose.  Then  I  took  down,  with  the  assistance  of 
my  knife,  a  stone  in  front  of  the  seat  in  the  corner 
of  the  condemned  hold :  when  I  had  got  the  stone 
down,  I  found  there  was  a  row  of  strong  iron  bars 
under  the  seat  through  which  I  could  not  get,  so  I 
was  obliged  to  work  under  these  bars  and  open  a 
passage  below  them.  To  do  this  I  had  no  tool  but 
my  old  knife,  and  in  doing  the  work  my  nails  were 
torn  off  the  ends  of  my  fingers,  and  my  hands  were 
in  a  dreadful,  miserable  condition.  At  last  I  opened 
a  hole  just  big  enough  for  me  to  squeeze  through, 
and  in  I  went  head  foremost,  but  one  of  my  legs, 


230 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


my  irons  being  on,  stuck  very  fast  in  the  hole,  and 
by  this  leg  I  hung  in  the  inside  of  the  vault  with 
my  head  downward  for  half  an  hour  or  more.  I 
thought  I  should  be  stifled  in  this  sad  position,  and 
was  just  going  to  call  out  for  help,  when,  turning 
myself  up,  I  happened  to  reach  the  bars.  I  took  fast 
hold  of  them  by  one  hand,  and  with  the  other  dis- 
engaged my  leg  to  get  it  out  of  the  hole." 

When  clear  he  had  still  a  drop  of  some  thirty 
feet,  and  to  break  his  fall  he  fastened  a  piece  of 
blanket  he  had  about  him  to  one  of  the  bars,  hop- 
ing to  lower  himself  down ;  but  it  broke,  and  he 
fell  with  much  violence  into  a  hole  under  the  vault, 
"  my  fetters  causing  me  to  fall  very  heavy,  and 
here  I  stuck  for  a  considerable  time."  This  hole 
proved  to  be  a  funnel,  "  very  narrow  and  straight; 
I  had  torn  my  flesh  in  a  terrible  manner  by  the  fall, 
but  was  forced  to  tear  myself  much  worse  in 
squeezing  through."  He  stuck  fast  and  could  not 
stir  either  backward  or  forward  for  more  than  half 
an  hour.  "  But  at  last,  what  with  squeezing  my 
body,  tearing  my  flesh  off  my  bones,  and  the  weight 
of  my  irons,  which  helped  me  a  little  here,  I  worked 
myself  through." 

The  funnel  communicated  with  the  main  sewer, 
in  which,  as  well  as  he  could,  he  cleaned  himself. 
"  My  shirt  and  breeches  were  torn  in  pieces,  but  I 
washed  them  in  the  muddy  water,  and  walked 
through  the  sewer  as  far  as  I  could,  my  irons  being 
very  heavy  on  me  and   incommoding  me  much." 


REMARKABLE   ESCAPES 


231 


Now  a  new  danger  overtook  him:  his  escape  had 
been  discovered  and  its  direction.  Several  of  the 
Newgate  runners  had  therefore  been  let  into  the 
sewer  to  look  for  him.  "  And  here,"  he  says,  "  I 
had  been  taken  again  had  I  not  found  a  hollow 
place  in  the  side  of  the  brickwork  into  which  I 
crowded  myself,  and  they  passed  by  me  twice  while 
I  stood  in  that  nook."  He  remained  forty-eight 
hours  in  the  sewer,  but  eventually  got  out  in  a  yard 
"  against  the  pump  in  Town  Ditch,  behind  Christ's 
Hospital."  Once  more  he  narrowly  escaped  detec- 
tion, for  a  woman  in  the  yard  saw  and  suspected 
him  to  be  after  no  good.  However,  he  was  suffered 
to  go  free,  and  got  as  far  as  Little  Britain,  where 
he  came  across  a  friend  who  gave  him  a  pot  of  beer 
and  procured  a  smith  to  knock  off  his  fetters. 

Maiden's  adventures  after  this  were  very  varied. 
He  got  first  to  Enfield,  when  some  friends  sub- 
scribed forty-five  shillings  to  buy  him  a  suit  of 
clothes  at  Rag  Fair.  Thence  he  passed  over  to 
Flushing,  where  he  was  nearly  persuaded  to  take 
foreign  service,  but  he  refused  and  returned  to 
England  in  search  of  his  wife.  Finding  her,  the 
two  wandered  about  the  country  taking  what  work 
they  could  find.  While  at  Canterbury,  employed  in 
the  hop-fields,  he  was  nearly  discovered  by  a  fellow 
who  beat  the  drum  in  a  show,  and  who  spoke  of 
him  openly  as  "  a  man  who  had  broken  twice  out  of 
Newgate."  Next  he  turned  jockey,  and  while  thus 
employed  was  betrayed  by  a  man  to  whom  he  had 


232         CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

been  kind.  Maiden  was  carried  before  the  Canter- 
bury justices  on  suspicion  of  being  the  man  who  had 
escaped  from  Newgate,  and  a  communication  was 
sent  to  the  authorities  of  that  prison.  Mr.  Aker- 
man  and  two  of  his  officers  came  in  person  to 
identify  the  prisoner,  and,  if  the  true  Maiden,  to 
convey  him  back  to  London.  But  Maiden  once 
more  nearly  gave  his  gaolers  the  slip.  He  obtained 
somehow  an  old  saw,  "  a  spike  such  as  is  used  for 
splicing  ropes,  a  piece  of  an  old  sword  jagged  and 
notched,  and  an  old  knife."  These  he  concealed 
rather  imprudently  upon  his  person,  where  they 
were  seen  and  taken  from  him,  otherwise  Mr.  Aker- 
man,  as  Maiden  told  him,  "  would  have  been  like 
to  have  come  upon  a  Canterbury  story  "  instead  of 
the  missing  prisoner.  However,  the  Newgate  of- 
ficers secured  Maiden  effectually,  and  brought  him 
to  London  on  the  26th  of  September,  1737,  which 
he  reached  "  guarded  by  about  thirty  or  forty  horse- 
men, the  roads  all  the  way  being  lined  with  specta- 
tors." "  Thus  was  I  got  to  London,"  he  says  in 
his  last  dying  confession,  "  handcuffed,  and  my  legs 
chained  under  the  horse's  belly;  I  got  to  Newgate 
that  Sunday  evening  about  five  o'clock,  and  rid 
quite  up  into  the  lodge,  where  I  was  taken  off  my 
horse,  then  was  conveyed  up  to  the  old  condemned 
hole,  handcuffed,  and  chained  to  the  floor." 

On  Friday,  the  15th  October,  the  last  day  of 
Sessions,  Maiden  was  called  into  court  and  informed 
that  his  former  judgment  of  death  must  be  executed 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  233 

upon  him,  and  he  was  accordingly  hanged  upon  the 
2d  November  following. 

Stratagem  and  disguise  in  some  shape  or  other 
were,  however,  the  most  favourite  and  generally 
the  most  successful  forms  of  escape.  Extraor- 
dinary and  quite  culpable  facilities  for  changing 
clothes  were  given  by  the  lax  discipline  of  the 
prison.  The  substitution  of  persons,  devoted  wife 
or  friend,  taking  the  place  of  the  accused,  as  in  the 
story  of  Sydney  Carton,  as  told  by  Dickens ;  or  the 
well-known  exchange  between  Lord  and  Lady  Niths- 
dale,  which  occurred  at  Newgate.  George  Flint, 
an  imprisoned  journalist,  who  continued  to  edit  his 
objectionable  periodical  from  the  prison,  got  away 
in  the  costume  of  a  footman.  His  wife  was  suf- 
fered to  live  with  him,  and  helped  him  to  the  dis- 
guise. She  concealed  the  escape  for  two  or  three 
days,  pretending  that  her  husband  was  dangerously 
ill  in  bed,  and  not  fit  to  be  disturbed;  for  which 
fidelity  to  her  husband,  who  was  now  beyond  the 
seas,  having  made  the  most  of  the  time  thus  gained, 
Mrs.  Flint  was  cast  into  the  condemned  hold,  and 
"  used  after  a  most  barbarous  manner  to  extort  a 
confession."  Another  very  similar  and  unsuccess- 
ful case  was  that  of  Alexander  Scott,  a  highway- 
man suspected  of  robbing  the  Worcester  and  Ports- 
mouth mails.  Scott  attempted  to  get  out  in  the 
"  habit  "  of  an  oyster- woman,  whom  his  wife  had 
persuaded  to  favour  their  design.  The  change  was 
made,  and  the  lodge  bell  rung  to  give  egress  to 


234 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


Scott.  Unfortunately  for  the  prisoner  the  gate- 
keeper was  dilatory.  Meanwhile,  an  assistant  turn- 
key, missing-  Scott,  conjectured  that  he  had  escaped, 
and  seeing  the  oyster-woman  standing  at  the  gate, 
began  to  question  her,  and  insisted  upon  looking  at 
her  face.  Scott  being  at  once  detected,  he  struck 
the  turnkey  a  blow  in  the  face,  hoping  to  knock  him 
down.  A  scuffle  ensued,  the  turnkey  proved  the 
strongest,  and  Scott  was  secured. 

Female  disguise  was  one  of  the  many  methods 
employed  by  the  imprisoned  Jacobites  to  compass 
escape,  but  it  was  not  always  successful.  Among 
others  Mr.  Barlow  of  Burton  Hall  tried  it.  In  the 
first  instance  a  crazy  woman,  Elizabeth  Powell,  well 
known  in  Westminster  Market,  came  to  Mr.  Bar- 
low with  a  whole  suit  of  female  apparel,  but  "  he, 
fearing  it  might  be  a  trick,  or  that  he  might  fail  in 
the  attempt,  discovered  her."  A  week  or  two  later, 
as  if  inspired  by  the  proposal,  Mr.  Barlow  did  make 
the  attempt.  Close  shaved  and  neatly  dressed  in 
female  clothes,  he  came  to  the  gate  with  a  crowd 
of  ladies  who  had  been  visiting  their  Jacobite 
friends,  hoping  to  pass  out  unobserved  with  the 
others.  But  the  turnkey  —  escapes  had  been  very 
frequent,  and  all  officials  were  on  the  alert  —  caught 
hold  of  him,  turned  him  about,  and  in  the  struggle 
threw  him  down.  The  rest  of  the  women  cried  out 
in  a  lamentable  tone,  "Don't  hurt  the  poor  lady; 
she  is  with  child ;  "  and  some  of  them  cried,  "  Oh, 
my  dear  mother !  "   whereupon   the   turnkey,  con- 


REMARKxA^BLE    ESCAPES  235 

vinced  he  had  to  do  with  a  lady,  let  him  go.  Mr. 
Barlow,  says  the  account,  acted  the  part  to  the  life. 
He  was  padded,  his  face  was  painted  red  and  white, 
and  he  would  certainly  have  made  his  escape  had  not 
Mr.  Carleton  Smith,  one  of  the  special  commis- 
sioners appointed  to  ensure  the  safe  custody  of  the 
rebels,  strictly  examined  the  would-be  fugitive  and 
detected  his  disguise.  Mr.  Barlow  offered  Smith 
ten  guineas  to  let  him  go,  but  instead  of  accepting 
the  bribe,  Mr.  Smith  carried  his  prisoner  just  as  he 
was,  in  female  disguise,  before  the  court  then  sitting 
at  the  Old  Bailey.  Mr.  Barlow  declared  that  the 
clothes  had  been  brought  him  by  his  wife.  "  The 
court,"  says  the  account,  "  was  very  well  pleased  to 
see  him  thus  metamorphosed,  but  ordered  him  to 
be  put  in  heavy  irons,  and  the  clothes  to.be  kept  as  a 
testimony  against  him." 

The  circumstances  under  which  Mr.  Pitt,  the 
governor  of  Newgate,  was  superseded  in  his 
functions  have  been  described  in  a  previous  chapter. 
Mr.  Pitt  was  so  strongly  suspected  of  Jacobite 
leanings  that  he  was  tried  for  his  life.  No  doubt 
escapes  were  scandalously  frequent  during  his 
regime,  and  it  is  just  possible  that  they  were  due  to 
the  governor's  complicity,  although  Mr.  Pitt  was 
actually  acquitted  of  the  charge.  More  probably 
they  owed  their  success  to  the  ingenuity  of  desperate 
men  easily  triumphing  over  the  prevailing  careless- 
ness of  their  keepers.  The  first  escape  which  made 
a  considerable  noise  was  that  of  Mr.  Forster,  com- 


236  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

monly  known  as  General  Forster,  who  headed  the 
Northumbrian  rising  in  171 5,  and  lost  the  battle  of 
Preston  Pans.  Mr.  Forster  was  allowed  consider- 
able liberty,  and  lodged  in  apartments  in  the 
keeper's  house.  One  afternoon,  when  Forster  and 
another  were  drinking  "  French  wine "  with  Mr. 
Pitt,  Mr.  Forster  sent  his  servant  to  fetch  a  bottle 
of  wine  from  his  own  stock  to  "  make  up  the  treat." 
The  servant  on  pretence  of  going  to  the  vault  left 
the  room.  Being  long  away,  Mr.  Forster  pretended 
to  be  very  angry,  and  followed  him  out.  Meanwhile 
the  servant  had  sent  the  governor's  black  man,  a 
species  of  hybrid  turnkey,  down  to  the  cellar  for 
the  wine,  and  had  locked  him  up  there.  The  black 
thus  disposed  of,  Forster's  servant  returned  and 
waited  for  his  master  just  outside  Mr.  Pitt's  parlour 
door.  Being  an  adept  at  the  locksmith's  art,  as  well 
as  a  smart  and  intelligent  fellow,  the  servant  had 
previously  obtained  an  impression  in  clay  of  Mr. 
Pitt's  front  door  key,  and  had  manufactured  a 
counterfeit  key.  Directly  Mr.  Forster  appeared, 
the  front  door  was  unlocked,  master  and  servant 
passed  through  and  went  off  together,  first 
taking  care  to  lock  the  door  on  the  outside  and 
leave  the  key  in  the  lock  to  prevent  their  being 
readily  pursued.  Mr.  Forster  got  to  Prittlewell  in 
Essex  by  four  o'clock  next  morning,  with  two  more 
horsemen  that  had  been  waiting  to  attend  them. 
From  Prittlewell,  they  hastened  on  to  Leigh,  where 
a  vessel  was  provided,  in  which  they  made  a  safe 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES 


237 


voyage  to  France.  "  By  this  it  appears,"  says  the 
chronicler,  evidently  a  stout  Whig,  "  that  Mr.  Fors- 
ter  was  much  better  skilled  in  contriving  an  escape 
than  leading  an  army,  which  shows  the  weakness 
of  the  Pretender  and  his  council,  who  put  so  great 
a  trust  in  the  hands  of  a  person  who  was  altogether 
unfit  for  it,  and  never  made  other  campaign  than  to 
hunt  a  fox  and  drink  down  his  companions." 

The  next  attempt  was  on  a  larger  scale.  It  was 
planned  by  Brigadier  Macintosh,  with  whom  were 
Mr.  Wogan,  two  of  the  Delmehoys,  Mr.  James 
Talbot,  and  the  brigadier's  son,  with  several  others, 
to  the  number  of  fifteen  in  all.  The  prime  mover 
was  the  brigadier,  who,  having  "  made  a  shift  to  get 
off  his  irons,  and  coming  down  with  them  in  his 
hand  under  his  gown,  caused  a  servant  to  knock 
at  the  gaol  door  outside,  himself  sitting  close  by 
it."  As  soon  as  the  door  was  opened  he  pushed 
out  with  great  violence,  knocking  down  the  turnkey 
and  two  or  three  of  the  sentinels.  One  of  the  sol- 
diers made  a  thrust  at  him  with  his  bayonet;  but 
the  brigadier  parried  the  charge,  seized  the  piece, 
unscrewed  the  bayonet,  and  "  menaced  it  at  the 
breast  of  the  soldier,  who  thereupon  gave  way  and 
suffered  him  and  fourteen  more  to  get  into  the 
street."  Eight  of  the  fugitives  were  almost  im- 
mediately recaptured,  but  the  other  gentlemen  got 
clean  off.  One  of  them  was  Mr.  James  Talbot,  who, 
unhappily,  fell  again  into  the  hands  of  the  au- 
thorities.    He  was  discovered  by  the  chance  gossip 


228,  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

of  a  garrulous  maid  servant,  who,  chattering  at  an 
ale-house  in  Windmill  Street,  near  the  Haymarket, 
said  her  master  had  a  cousin  come  to  see  him  who 
had  the  whitest  hands  she  ever  saw  in  her  life. 
This  caused  suspicion,  and  suspicion  brought  dis- 
covery. A  reward  of  £500  had  been  offered  by 
proclamation  for  the  arrest  of  any  fugitives,  ex- 
cept the  brigadier,  who  was  valued  at  £1,000,  and 
Talbot  was  given  up. 

The  escapes  did  not  end  here.  The  next  to  get 
away  was  Mr.  George  Budden,  an  upholsterer,  who 
had  a  shop  near  Fleet  Bridge,  a  Jacobite,  but  not 
in  the  rebellion  of  171 5.  He  effected  his  escape  at 
the  time  when  Mr.  Pitt  was  himself  a  prisoner, 
suspected  of  collusion  in  the  previous  evasions.  Mr. 
Budden's  plan  was  simple.  He  was  possessed  of 
money,  and  had  friends  who  could  help  to  convey 
him  away  could  he  but  get  out  of  Newgate.  One 
night  as  he  sat  drinking  with  the  head  turnkey,  Mr. 
Budden  purposely  insulted  the  officer  grossly,  and 
even  went  so  far  as  to  strike  him.  The  turnkey 
was  furious,  and  carried  off  his  prisoner  to  the 
lodge,  there  to  be  heavily  ironed,  Mr.  Budden  trust- 
ing that  either  on  the  w^ay  there  or  back  he  might 
contrive  to  escape.  On  reaching  the  lodge  Mr. 
Budden  apologized  and  "  made  atonement  to  the 
good-natured  keeper,  who  was  a  little  mellower 
than  ordinary,"  and  was  led  back  to  his  former 
apartment ;  on  the  way  he  turned  up  the 
keeper's  heels  and  made  off  through  the  gate.    Once 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  239 

outside,  Budden  ran  into  Newgate  Market,  and 
thence  by  many  windings  and  turnings  out  of  Lon- 
don, riding  post-haste  seventy  miles  to  the  coast, 
and  so  across  to  France. 

There  were  other  attempts,  such  as  that  of  Mr. 
Robertson,  who  tried  to  make  off  in  a  clergyman's 
habit,  but  was  discovered  and  stopped  before  he 
had  passed  one  of  the  doors;  and  of  Mr.  Ramsay, 
who  escaped  with  the  crowd  that  came  to  hear  the 
condemned  sermon.  Now  and  then  there  was  the 
concerted  action  of  a  number,  as  when  the  prison- 
ers thronged  about  the  gates  in  order  to  make  their 
escape.  Trouble,  again,  was  only  prevented  by 
timely  warning  that  there  was  a  design  to  convey 
large  iron  crows  to  the  rebels,  by  which  they  might 
beat  open  the  gaol  and  escape.  The  most  important 
and  about  the  last  of  the  rebel  escapes  was  that  of 
Mr.  Ratcliffe,  brother  of  the  unfortunate  Lord  Der- 
wentwater.  This  was  effected  so  easily,  indeed, 
with  so  much  cool  impudence,  that  connivance  must 
assuredly  have  been  bought.  Mr.  Ratcliffe  seized 
his  opportunity  one  day  when  he  was  paying  a  visit 
to  Captain  Dalziel  and  others  on  the  master's  side. 
At  the  gate  he  met  by  previous  agreement  a  "  cane- 
jobber,"  or  person  who  sold  walking-sticks,  and  who 
had  once  been  an  inmate  of  Newgate  himself.  Mr. 
Ratcliffe  paused  for  a  time  and  bargained  for  a 
cane,  after  which  he  passed  under  the  iron  chain  at 
the  gate,  and  upon  the  cane-seller's  saying  that  he 
was  no  prisoner,  the  turnkey  and,  guard  suffered 


240  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Ratcliffe  to  get  off.  The  author  of  the  "  History 
of  the  Press-yard  "  says  that  Mr.  Ratdiffe  bribed 
the  officer,  "  which,"  as  another  writer  adds,  "  must 
be  owned  to  be  the  readiest  way  to  turn  both  lock 
and  key." 

Mr.  Ratcliffe,  thirty  years  later,  paid  the  pen- 
alty to  the  law  which  he  had  escaped  on  this  oc- 
casion. A  warm  adherent  of  the  Pretender,  he 
embarked  from  France  for  Scotland  to  take  part 
in  the  Jacobite  rising  in  1745.  The  French  ship 
was  captured,  and  Ratcliffe  sent  as  a  prisoner  to 
the  Tower.  He  was  presently  arraigned  at  the  bar 
of  the  King's  Bench  for  having  escaped  from  New- 
gate in  1 7 16,  when  under  sentence  of  death  for 
high  treason.  Ratcliffe  at  first  refused  to  plead, 
declaring  that  he  was  a  subject  of  the  French  king, 
and  that  the  court  had  no  jurisdiction  over  him. 
Then  he  denied  that  he  was  the  person  named  in 
the  record  produced  in  court,  whereupon  witnesses 
were  called  to  prove  that  he  was  Charles  Ratcliffe. 
Two  Northumbrian  men  identified  him  as  the  leader 
of  five  hundred  of  the  Earl  of  Derwentwater's  men, 
remembering  him  by  the  scar  on  his  face.  They 
had  been  to  see  him  in  the  Tower,  and  could  swear 
to  him;  but  could  not  swear  that  he  was  the  same 
Charles  Ratcliffe  who  had  escaped  from  Newgate 
prison.  A  barber  who  had  been  appointed  "  close 
shaver  "  to  Newgate  in  171 5,  and  who  attended  the 
prison  daily  to  shave  all  the  rebel  prisoners,  re- 
membered Charles  Ratcliffe,  Esq.,  perfectly  as  the 


REMARKABLE    ESCAPES  241 

chum  or  companion  of  Basil  Hamilton,  a  reputed 
nephew  of  the  Duke  of  Hamilton ;  but  this  barber, 
when  closely  pressed,  could  not  swear  that  the 
prisoner  at  the  bar  was  the  very  same  Charles  Rat- 
cliffe  whom  he  had  shaved,  and  who  had  afterwards 
escaped  out  of  Newgate.  No  evidence  indeed  was 
forthcoming  to  positively  fix  Mr.  Ratcliffe's  iden- 
tity; but  "a  gentleman"  was  called  who  deposed 
that  the  prisoner  had  in  the  Tower  declared  him- 
self to  be  the  same  Charles  Ratcliffe  who  was  con- 
demned in  the  year  17 16,  and  had  likewise  told  him, 
the  witness,  that  he  had  made  his  escape  out  of 
Newgate  in  mourning,  with  a  brown  tie  wig,  when 
under  sentence  of  death  in  that  gaol.  Upon  this 
evidence  the  judge  summed  up  against  the  prisoner, 
the  jury  found  a  verdict  of  guilty,  and  Ratcliffe  was 
eventually  beheaded  on  Tower  Hill. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

NEWGATE    IN    THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 

Newgate  Calendars  —  Their  editors  and  publishers  —  All 
based  on  sessions'  papers  —  Demand  for  this  literature 
fostered  by  prevalence  of  crime  —  Brief  summary  of  state 
of  crime  in  the  first  half  of  the  i8th  century  —  State  of  the 
metropolis  — ■  Street-robberies  —  Burglaries  —  Henry  Field- 
ing on  the  increase  of  robbers  —  The  Thieves'  Company  — 
The  Resolution  Club  —  Defiance  in  the  Law  Courts  — 
Causes  of  the  increase  of  crime  —  Drunkenness  —  The  Gin 
Act  —  Gaming  universal  —  Faro's  daughters  —  State  Lot- 
teries—  Repression  of  crime  limited  by  hanging  —  No 
police  —  The  "  Charlies  "  or  watchmen  —  Civil  power 
lethargic  —  Efforts  made  by  private  societies  for  reforma- 
tion of  manners  —  Character  of  crimes  —  Murders,  duels, 
and  affrays  —  Richard  Savage,  the  poet,  in  Newgate  for 
murder —  Major  Oneby  commits  suicide  —  Marquis  de  Pale- 
oti  committed  for  murder — Colonel  Charteris  sentenced  to 
death,  but  pardoned  —  Crime  in  high  place  —  The  Earl  of 
Macclesfield,  Lord  Chancellor,  convicted  of  venal  practices 
—  Embezzlement  by  public  officials. 

Prison  calendars  obviously  reflect  the  criminal 
features  of  the  age  in  which  they  appear.  Those 
of  Newgate  since  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  are  numerous  and  voluminous  enough  to 
form  a  literature  of  their  own.  To  the  diligence  of 
lawyers  and  publishers  we  owe  a  more  or  less  com- 

242 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 


243 


plete  collection  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  as  they 
occurred.  These  volumes  have  been  published  un- 
der various  titles.  The  "  Newgate  Calendar,"  com- 
piled by  Messrs.  Knapp  and  Baldwin,  attorneys  at 
law,  is  one  of  the  best  known.  This  work,  ac- 
cording to  its  title-page,  professes  to  contain  "  in- 
teresting memoirs  of  notorious  characters  who  have 
been  convicted  of  outrages  on  the  law  of  England; 
with  essays  on  crimes  and  punishments  and  the  last 
exclamations  of  sufferers."  There  are  many  edi- 
tions of  it.  The  first  was  undoubtedly  published  by 
Nuttall,  Fisher,  and  Dixon,  of  Liverpool;  a  later 
edition  issued  from  the  Albion  Press,  Ivy  Lane, 
London,  under  the  auspices  of  J.  Robins  and  Co. 
But  another  book  of  similar  character  had  as  its 
compiler  "  George  Theodore  Wilkinson,  Esq.,"  bar- 
rister at  law.  It  was  published  by  Cornish  and  Co. 
in  18 14,  and  the  work  was  continued  by  "  William 
Jackson,  Esq.,"  another  barrister,  with  Alexander 
Hogg,  of  Paternoster  Row,  and  by  Offor  and  Sons 
of  Tower  Hill  as  publishers.  Early  and  perfect 
editions  of  these  works  are  somewhat  rare  and 
curious,  fondly  sought  out  and  carefully  treasured 
by  the  bibliophile.  But  all  of  them  were  antici- 
pated by  the  editors  of  the  "  Tyburn  Calendar,"  or 
"  Malefactor's  Bloody  Register,"  which  appeared 
soon  after  1700  from  the  printing-office  of  G. 
Swindells,  at  the  appropriate  address  of  Hanging 
Bridge,  Manchester.  The  compilers  of  these  vol- 
umes claimed  a  high  mission.     They  desired  "  to 


244  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

fully  display  the  regular  progress  from  Virtue  to 
Vice,  interspersed  with  striking  reflections  on  the 
conduct  of  those  unhappy  wretches  who  have  fallen 
a  sacrifice  to  the  injured  laws  of  their  country. 
The  whole  tending  to  guard  young  minds  from 
allurements  of  vice  and  the  paths  that  lead  to 
destruction."  Another  early  work  is  the  "  Chron- 
icle of  Tyburn,  or  Villainy  displayed  in  all  its 
branches,''  which  gave  the  authentic  lives  of  no- 
torious malefactors,  and  was  published  at  the 
Shakespeare's  Head  in  1720.  Yet  another,  dated 
1776,  and  printed  for  J.  Wenman,  of  144  Fleet 
Street,  bears  the  title  of  "  The  Annals  of  Newgate," 
and  claims,  upon  the  title-page,  that  by  giving  the 
circumstantial  accounts  of  the  lives,  transactions, 
and  trials  of  the  most  notorious  malefactors  it  is 
"  calculated  to  expose  the  deformity  of  vice,  the  in- 
famy, and  punishments  naturally  attending  those 
who  deviate  from  the  paths  of  virtue ;  and  is  in- 
tended as  a  beacon  to  warn  the  rising  generation 
against  the  temptations,  the  allurements,  and  the 
dangers  of  bad  company." 

All  Newgate  calendars  have  seemingly  a  com- 
mon origin.  They  are  all  based  primarily  upon 
the  sessions'  papers,  the  official  publications  which 
record  the  proceedings  at  the  Old  Bailey.  There 
is  a  complete  early  series  of  these  sessions'  papers 
in  the  Library  of  the  British  Museum,  and  another 
in  the  Home  Office  from  the  year  1730,  including 
the  December  sessions  in  1729.    The  publisher,  who 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        245 

is  stated  on  the  title-page  to  be  "  T.  Payne,  at  the 
corner  of  Ivy  Lane,  near  Paternoster  Row,"  refers 
in  his  preface  to  an  earher  series,  dating  prob- 
ably from  the  beginning  of  the  century,  and  a 
manuscript  note  in  the  margin  of  the  first  volume 
of  the  second  series  also  speaks  of  a  preceding  folio 
volume.  These  sessions'  papers  did  not  issue  from 
one  publisher.  As  the  years  pass  the  publication 
changes  hands.  Now  it  is  "  J.  Wilford,  behind  the 
Chapter  House,  St.  Paul's ;  "  now  "  I.  Roberts  at 
the  Oxford  Arms  in  Warwick  Lane."  Ere  long 
"  T.  Applebee  in  Bolt  Court,  near  the  Leg  Tavern," 
turns  his  attention  to  this  interesting  class  of  peri- 
odical literature.  He  also  published  another  set  of 
semi-official  documents,  several  numbers  of  which 
are  bound  up  with  the  sessions'  papers  already 
mentioned,  and  like  them  supplying  important  data 
for  the  compilation  of  calendars.  These  were  the 
accounts  given  by  the  ordinary  of  Newgate  of  the 
behaviour,  confessions,  and  dying  words  of  the 
malefactors  executed  at  Tyburn,  a  report  rendered 
by  command  of  the  mayor  and  Corporation,  but  a 
private  financial  venture  of  the  chaplain's.  As  the 
ordinary  had  free  access  to  condemned  convicts  at 
all  times,  and  from  his  peculiar  duties  generally 
established  the  most  confidential  relations  with 
them,  he  was  in  a  position  to  obtain  much  curious 
and  often  authentic  information  from  the  lips  of  the 
doomed  offenders.  Hence  the  ordinary's  account 
contained  many  criminal  autobiographies,  and  prob- 


246  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

ably  was  much  patronized  by  the  pubhc.  Its  sale 
was  a  part  of  the  reverend  gentleman's  perquisites; 
and  that  the  chaplains  looked  closely  after  the  re- 
turns may  be  gathered  from  the  already  mentioned 
application  made  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lorraine,  chap- 
lain in  1804,  who  petitioned  Parliament  to  exempt 
his  "  execution  brochure  "  from  the  paper  tax. 

In  the  advertisement  sheets  of  these  sessions* 
papers  are  notices  of  other  criminal  publications, 
proving  how  great  was  the  demand  for  this  kind 
of  literature.  Thus  in  1731  is  announced  "  The 
History  of  Executions :  being  a  complete  account 
of  the  thirteen  malefactors  executed  at  Tyburn  for 
robberies,  price  4d.,"  and  this  publication  is  con- 
tinued from  year  to  year.  In  1732  "  T.  Applebee 
and  others  "  published  at  3.?.  6d.  the  "  Lives  of  the 
Most  Remarkable  Criminals,"  a  volume  containing 
as  a  frontispiece  the  escape  of  Jack  Sheppard  from 
Newgate.  In  the  description  of  this  book  the  pub- 
lic is  assured  that  the  volume  contains  a  first  and 
faithful  narration  of  each  case,  "  without  any  addi- 
tions of  feigned  or  romantic  adventures,  calculated 
merely  to  entertain  the  curiosity  of  the  reader." 
Jack  Sheppard  had  many  biographers.  Seven  ac- 
curate and  authentic  histories  were  published,  all 
purporting  to  give  the  true  story  of  his  surprising 
adventures,  and  bequeathing  a  valuable  legacy  to  the 
then  unborn  historical  novelist,  Mr.  Harrison  Ains- 
worth.  Again,  Rich,  the  manager  of  the  Lincoln's 
Inn  Theatre,  brought  out  "  Harlequin  Jack  Shep- 


niv 


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'-'     0(1  J 


bnc 


'  i-T^yi .  "*■•  ■■  ■",•J^.-•>^»^. 


aine, 


^^dogat^  con- 

terestmg  because  m„Lnmina\?,  ^>  the  reign. ^^,^^„  ^^s 
°'  .V''"''';,"^  \v"  ia  e  was  rebuilt  m  ,|.  °^..  ,„s  fir«  t.»ed 
L-;;;^'^,a^'  d'  Ne^gatl  When  the  -u,4^^  ^;-.>,„tv. 
Sn.rce'SfS;St''X,eVs.ron,..,at. 


til 


the  rea 
Seven  ac- 
,Te  pi' 

his  surp' 


■vehst,  M 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        247 

pard  "  in  the  year  of  that  desperado's  execution,  an 
operatic  pantomime  founded  upon  his  exploits.  A 
Httle  before  this  another  dramatic  performance,  the 
*'  Beggar's  Opera,"  having  a  criminal  for  its  hero, 
had  taken  the  town  by  storm;  and  many  strongly 
and  with  reason  condemned  the  degradation  of  na- 
tional taste  which  could  popularize  the  loves  of 
''  Polly  Peachum  "  and  "  Captain  Macheath."  Be- 
sides these  books  and  plays  there  was  a  constant 
publication  of  broad  sheets  and  chap-books  of  a 
still  lower  type,  intended  to  pander  to  the  same  un- 
wholesome taste,  while  a  great  novelist  like  Fielding 
did  not  hesitate  to  draw  upon  his  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  crime,  obtained  as  a  police  magistrate, 
and  write  the  life  of  Jonathan  Wild. 

The  demand  was  no  doubt  fostered  by  the  ex- 
traordinary prevalence  of  crime  in  England,  Crim- 
inal records  would  probably  be  read  with  avidity 
at  times  when  ruffianism  was  in  the  ascendant,  and 
offences  of  the  most  heinous  description  were  of 
daily  occurrence.  New  crimes  cropped  up  daily. 
The  whole  country  was  a  prey  to  lawlessness  and 
disorder.  Outrages  of  all  kinds,  riots,  robberies, 
murders,  took  place  continually.  None  of  the  high- 
roads or  by-roads  were  safe  by  night  or  day. 
Horsemen  in  the  open  country,  footpads  in  or  near 
towns,  harassed  and  pillaged  wayfarers.  Armed 
parties  ranged  the  rural  districts  attacking  country- 
houses  in  force,  driving  off  cattle  and  deer,  and 
striking  terror  everywhere. 


248  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

The  general  turbulence  often  broke  out  into  open 
disturbance.  The  Riot  Act,  which  was  a  product 
of  these  times,  was  not  passed  before  it  was  needed. 
Riots  were  frequent  in  town  and  country.  Tlie 
mob  was  easily  roused,  as  when  it  broke  open  the 
house  of  the  Provost  Marshal  Tooley  in  Holborn, 
to  whom  they  owed  a  grudge  for  impressing  men 
to  sell  as  recruits  to  Flanders.  They  burned  his 
fumuure  in  the  street,  and  many  persons  were  killed 
and  wounded  in  the  affray.  Now  political  parties, 
inflamed  with  rancorous  spirit,  created  uproars  in 
the  "  mug  houses ;  "  now  mutinous  soldiers  violently 
protested  against  the  coarse  linen  of  their 
"  Hanover "  shirts ;  again  the  idle  flunkies  at  a 
London  theatre  rose  in  revolt  against  new  rules  in- 
troduced by  the  management  and  produced  a  serious 
riot.  In  the  country  gangs  of  rufiians  disguised  in 
female  attire,  the  forerunners  of  Rebecca  and  her 
daughter,  ran  amuck  against  turnpike  gates,  de- 
molishing all  they  found.  There  were  smuggling 
riots,  when  armed  crowds  overpowered  the  cus- 
toms officers  and  broke  into  warehouses  sealed  by 
the  Crown ;  corn  riots  at  periods  of  scarcity,  when 
private  granaries  were  forced  and  pillaged.  A  still 
worse  crime  prevailed  —  that  of  arson.  I  find  in 
"  Hardwicke's  Life,"  reference  to  a  proclamation 
offering  a  reward  for  the  detection  of  those  who 
sent  threatening  letters  "  to  diverse  persons  in  the 
citys  of  London,  Westminster,  Bristol,  and  Exeter, 
requiring  them  to  deposit  certain  sums  of  money  in 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        249 

particular  places,  and  threatening  to  set  fire  to  their 
houses,  and  to  burn  and  destroy  them  and  their 
families  in  case  of  refusal,  some  of  which  threats 
have  accordingly  been  carried  into  execution." 

Other  threats  were  to  murder  unless  a  good  sum 
was  at  once  paid  down.  Thus  Jepthah  Big  was 
tried  in  1729  for  writing  two  letters,  demanding 
in  one  eighty-five  guineas,  in  the  other  one  hundred 
guineas  from  Nathaniel  Newnham,  "  a  fearful  old 
man,"  and  threatening  to  murder  both  himself  and 
wife  unless  he  got  the  money.  Jepthah  Big  was 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death. 

The  state  of  the  metropolis  was  something  fright- 
ful in  the  early  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
Such  was  the  reckless  daring  of  evil-doers  that 
there  was  but  little  security  for  life  and  property. 
Wright,  in  his  "  Caricature  History  of  the 
Georges,"  says  of  this  period :  "  Robbery  was  car- 
ried on  to  an  extraordinary  extent  in  the  streets  of 
London  even  by  daylight.  Housebreaking  was  of 
frequent  ocurence  by  night,  and  every  road  leading 
to  the  metropolis  was  beset  by  bands  of  reckless 
highwaymen,  who  carried  their  depredations  into 
the  very  heart  of  the  town.  Respectable  women 
could  not  venture  in  the  streets  alone  after  night- 
fall, even  in  the  city,  without  risk  of  being  grossly 
insulted."  In  1720  ladies  going  to  court  were  es- 
corted by  servants  armed  with  blunderbusses  "  to 
shoot  at  the  rogues."  Wright  gives  a  detailed  ac- 
count   of    five    and    twenty    robberies    perpetrated 


25° 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


within  three  weeks  in  January  and  February  of  the 
year  above  mentioned.  A  few  of  the  most  daring 
cases  may  be  quoted.  Tliree  highwaymen  stopped 
a  gentleman  of  the  prince's  household  in  Poland 
Street,  and  made  the  watchman  throw  away  his 
lantern  and  stand  quietly  by  while  they  robbed 
and  ill-used  their  victim.  Other  highwaymen 
the  same  night  fired  at  Colonel  Montague's 
carriage  as  it  passed  along  Frith  Street,  Soho,  be- 
cause the  coachman  refused  to  stand ;  and  the 
Dutchess  of  Montrose,  coming  from  court  in  her 
chair,  was  stopped  by  highwaymen  near  Bond 
Street.  Tlie  mails  going  out  and  coming  into  Lon- 
don were  seized  and  rifled.  Post-boys,  stage- 
coaches, everybody  and  everything  that  travelled, 
were  attacked.  A  great  peer,  the  Duke  of  Chandos, 
was  twice  stopped  during  the  period  above  men- 
tioned, but  he  and  his  servants  were  too  strong  for 
the  villains,  some  of  whom  they  captured.  People 
were  robbed  in  Chelsea,  in  Cheapside,  in  White 
Conduit  Fields,  in  Denmark  Street,  St.  Giles. 
Wade,  in  his  "  British  Chronology,"  under  the  head 
of  public  calamities  in  1729,  classes  with  a  sickly 
season,  perpetual  storms,  and  incessant  rains,  the 
dangerous  condition  of  the  cities  of  London  and 
Westminster  and  their  neighbourhoods,  which 
"  proceeded  from  the  number  of  footpads  and 
street-robbers,  insomuch  that  there  was  no  stirring 
out  after  dark  for  fear  of  mischief.  These  ruf- 
fians knocked  people  down  and  wounded  them  be- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        251 

fore  they  demanded  their  money."  Large  rewards 
were  offered  for  the  apprehension  of  these  of- 
fenders. Thief-catchers  and  informers  were  con- 
tinually active,  and  the  law  did  not  hesitate  to  strike 
all  upon  whom  it  could  lay  its  hands.  Yet  crime 
still  flourished  and  increased  year  after  year. 

The  Englishman's  house,  and  proverbially  his 
castle,  was  no  more  secure  then  than  now  from 
burglarious  inroads.  Housebreakers  abounded, 
working  in  gangs  with  consummate  skill  and 
patience,  hand  and  glove  with  servants  past  and 
present,  associated  with  receivers,  and  especially 
with  the  drivers  of  night  coaches.  Half  the  hack- 
ney-coachmen about  this  time  were  in  league  with 
thieves,  being  bribed  by  nocturnal  depredators  to 
wait  about  when  a  robbery  was  imminent,  and  until 
it  was  completed.  Then,  seizing  the  chance  of 
watchmen  being  off  their  beat,  these  useful  accom- 
plices drove  at  once  to  the  receiver  with  the  "  swag." 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  century,  Henry  Field- 
ing, the  great  novelist,  and  at  that  time  acting 
magistrate  for  Westminster,  wrote :  ^  "I  make  no 
doubt  but  that  the  streets  of  this  town  and  the  roads 
leading  to  it  will  shortly  be  impassable  without 
the  utmost  hazard ;  nor  are  we  threatened  with  see- 
ing less  dangerous  groups  of  rogues  amongst  us 
than  those  which  the  Italians  call  banditti.  .  .  ." 
Again,  "  If  I  am  to  be  assaulted  and  pillaged  and 

* "  An  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  the  late  increase  of  rob- 
bers," etc.     London,  1751. 


252 


CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 


plundered,  if  I  can  neither  sleep  in  my  own  house, 
nor  walk  the  streets,  nor  travel  in  safety,  is  not 
my  condition  almost  equally  bad  whether  a  licensed 
or  an  unlicensed  rogue,  a  dragoon  or  a  robber,  be 
the  person  who  assaults  and  plunders  me?  "  Those 
who  set  the  law  at  defiance  organized  themselves 
into  gangs,  and  cooperated  in  crime.  Fielding  tells 
us  in  the  same  work  that  nearly  a  hundred  rogues 
were  incorporated  in  one  body,  "  have  officers  and  a 
treasury,  and  have  reduced  theft  and  robbery  into  a 
regular  system."  Among  them  were  men  who  ap- 
peared in  all  disguises  and  mixed  in  all  companies. 
The  members  of  the  society  were  not  only  versed  in 
every  art  of  cheating  and  thieving,  but  they  were 
armed  to  evade  the  law,  and  if  a  prisoner  could 
not  be  rescued,  a  prosecutor  could  be  bribed,  or 
some  "  rotten  member  of  the  law  "  forged  a  defence 
supported  by  false  witnesses.  This  must  have  been 
perpetuated,  for  I  find  another  reference  later  to  the 
Thieves  or  Housebreaker's  Company  which  had 
regular  books,  kept  clerks,  opened  accounts  with 
members,  and  duly  divided  the  profits.  According 
to  the  confession  of  two  of  the  gang  who  were  exe- 
cuted on  Kensington  Common,  they  declared  that 
their  profits  amounted  on  an  average  to  £500  a  year, 
and  that  one  of  them  had  put  by  £2,000  in  the 
stocks,  which  before  his  trial  he  made  over  to  a 
friend  to  preserv^e  it  for  his  family.  Another 
desperate  gang,  Wade  says,  were  so  audacious  that 
they  went  to  the  houses  of  the  peace  officers,  and 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        253 

made  them  beg  pardon  for  endeavouring  to  do  their 
duty,  and  promise  not  to  molest  them,  They  went 
further,  and  even  attacked  and  wounded  a  "  head 
borough  "  in  St.  John's  Street  in  about  forty  places, 
so  that  many  of  the  threatened  officers  had  to  "  lie 
in  Bridewell  for  safety." 

In  Harris's  *'  Life  of  Lord  Hardwicke  "  is  a  letter 
from  the  solicitor  to  the  Treasury  to  Sir  Philip 
Yorke,  referring  to  "  the  gang  of  ruffians  who  are 
so  notorious  for  their  robberies,  and  have  lately 
murdered  Thomas  Bull  in  Southwark,  and  wounded 
others.  Their  numbers  daily  increase,  and  now  be- 
come so  formidable  that  constables  are  intimidated 
by  their  threats  and  desperate  behaviour  from  any 
endeavour  to  apprehend  them."  One  of  these  ruf- 
fians was  described  in  the  proclamation  offering  re- 
wards for  their  apprehension  as  "  above  six  feet 
high,  black  eyebrows,  his  teeth  broke  before ; " 
another  had  a  large  scar  under  his  chin. 

Still  worse  was  the  "  Resolution  Club,"  a  nu- 
merous gang,  regularly  organized  under  stringent 
rules.  It  was  one  of  their  articles,  that  whoever 
resisted  or  attempt  to  fly  when  stopped  should  be 
instantly  cut  down  and  crippled.  Any  person  who 
prosecuted,  or  appeared  as  evidence  against  a  mem- 
ber of  the  club,  should  be  marked  down  for  ven- 
geance. The  members  took  an  "  infernal  oath  "  to 
obey  the  rules,  and  if  taken  and  sentenced  to  "  die 
mute."  Another  instance  of  the  lawlessness  of  the 
times  is  to  be  seen  in  the  desperate  attack  made  by 


254  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

some  forty  ruffians  on  a  watch-house  in  Moorfields, 
where  an  accomplice  was  kept  a  prisoner.  They 
were  armed  with  pistols,  cutlasses,  and  other  of- 
fensive weapons.  The  watchman  was  wounded,  the 
prisoner  rescued.  After  this  the  assailants  de- 
molished the  watch-house,  robbed  the  constables, 
"  committed  several  unparalleled  outrages,  and  went 
off  in  triumph."  The  gang  was  too  numerous  to 
be  quickly  subdued,  but  most  of  the  rioters  were 
eventually  apprehended,  and  it  is  satisfactory  to 
learn  that  they  were  sentenced  to  imprisonment  in 
Newgate  for  three,  five,  or  seven  years,  according 
to  the  part  they  had  played. 

The  contempt  of  the  majesty  of  the  law  was  not 
limited  to  the  lower  and  dangerous  classes.  A 
gentleman's  maid  servant,  having  resisted  the 
parish  officers  who  had  a  distress  warrant  upon  the 
gentleman's  house  for  unpaid  rates,  was  committed 
by  the  magistrates  to  Newgate.  "  The  gentleman," 
by  name  William  Frankland,  on  learning  what  had 
happened,  armed  himself  with  a  brace  of  pistols, 
and  went  to  the  office  where  the  justices  were  then 
sitting,  and  asked  which  of  them  had  dared  to  com- 
mit his  servant  to  prison.  "  Mr.  Miller,"  so  runs 
the  account,  "  smilingly  replied,  '  I  did,'  on  which 
the  gentleman  fired  one  of  his  pistols  and  shot  Mr, 
Miller  in  the  side,  but  it  is  thought  did  not  wound 
him  mortally.  He  was  instantly  secured  and  com- 
mitted to  Newgate."  At  the  following  Old  Bailey 
Sessions,  he  was  tried  under  the  Black  Act,  when 


THE   EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 


255 


he  pleaded  insanity.  This  did  not  avail  him,  and 
although  the  jury  in  convicting  him  strongly  recom- 
mended him  to  mercy,  he  was  sentenced  to  death. 
Another  case  of  still  more  flagrant  contempt  of  court 
may  fitly  be  introduced  here.  At  the  trial  of  a 
woman  named  Housden  for  coining  at  the  Old 
Bailey  in  171 2,  a  man  named  Johnson,  an  ex- 
butcher  and  highwayman  by  profession,  came  into 
court  and  desired  to  speak  to  her.  Mr.  Spurling, 
the  principal  turnkey  of  Newgate,  told  him  no  per- 
son could  be  permitted  to  speak  to  the  prisoner, 
whereupon  Johnson  drew  out  a  pistol  and  shot  Mr. 
Spurling  dead  upon  the  spot,  the  woman  Housden 
loudly  applauding  his  act.  The  court  did  not  easily 
recover  from  its  consternation,  but  presently  the 
recorder  suspended  the  trial  of  the  woman  for  coin- 
ing, and  as  soon  as  an  indictment  could  be  prepared, 
Johnson  was  arraigned  for  the  murder,  convicted, 
and  then  and  there  sentenced  to  death ;  the  woman 
Housden  being  also  sentenced  at  the  same  time  as 
an  accessory  before  and  after  the  fact.  " 

Various  causes  are  given  for  this  great  preva- 
lence of  crime.  The  long  and  impoverishing  wars 
of  the  early  years  of  the  century,  which  saddled 
England  with  the  national  debt,  no  doubt  produced 
much  distress,  and  drove  thousands  who  could  not 
or  would  not  find  honest  work  into  evil  ways.  Man- 
ners among  the  highest  and  the  lowest  were  gen- 
erally profligate.  Innumerable  places  of  public 
diversion,  ridottos,  balls,  masquerades,  tea-gardens, 


256         CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

and  wells,  offered  crowds  a  ready  means  for  self- 
indulgence.  Classes  aped  the  habits  of  the  classes 
above  their  own,  and  the  love  of  luxurious  gratifica- 
tion "  reached  to  the  dregs  of  the  people,"  says 
Fielding,  "  who,  not  being  able  by  the  fruits  of 
honest  labour  to  support  the  state  which  they  affect, 
they  disdain  the  wages  to  which  their  industry 
would  entitle  them,  and  abandoning  themselves  to 
idleness,  the  more  simple  and  poor-spirited  betake 
themselves  to  a  state  of  starving  and  beggary,  while 
those  of  more  art  and  courage  became  thieves, 
sharpers,  and  robbers." 

Drunkenness  was  another  terrible  vice,  even  then 
more  rampant  and  wildly  excessive  than  in  later 
years.  While  the  aristocracy  drank  deep  of  Bur- 
gundy and  port,  and  every  roaring  blade  disdained 
all  heel-taps,  the  masses  fuddled  and  besotted  them- 
selves with  gin.  This  last-named  pernicious  fluid 
was  as  cheap  as  dirt.  A  gin-shop  actually  had  on 
its  sign  the  notice,  "  Drunk  for  id. ;  dead  drunk  for 
2d. ;  clean  straw  for  nothing,"  which  Hogarth  intro- 
duced into  his  caricature  of  Gin  Lane.  No  pencil 
could  paint,  no  pen  describe  the  scenes  of  hideous 
debauchery  hourly  enacted  in  the  dens  and  purlieus 
of  the  town.  Legislation  was  powerless  to  restrain 
the  popular  craving.  The  Gin  Act,  passed  in  1736 
amidst  the  execrations  of  the  mob,  which  sought  to 
vent  its  rage  upon  Sir  Joseph  Jekyll,  the  chief  pro- 
moter of  the  bill,  was  generally  evaded.  The  much- 
loved  poisonous  spirit  was  still  retailed  under  ficti- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        257 

tious  names,  such  as  "  Sangree,"  "  Tow  Row,"  the 
"Makeshift,"  and  "King  Theodore  of  Corsica." 
It  was  prescribed  as  a  medicine  for  coHc,  to  be  taken 
two  or  three  times  a  day.  Numberless  tumults 
arose  out  of  the  prohibition  to  retail  spirituous 
liquors,  and  so  openly  was  the  law  defied,  that 
twelve  thousand  persons  were  convicted  within  two 
years  of  having  sold  them  illegally  in  London.  In- 
formers were  promptly  bought  off  or  intimidated, 
magistrates  "  through  fear  or  corruption  "  would 
not  convict,  and  the  act  was  repealed  in  the  hope 
that  more  moderate  duty  and  stricter  enforcement 
of  the  law  would  benefit  the  revenue  and  yet  lessen 
consumption.  The  first  was  undoubtedly  affected, 
but  hardly  the  latter. 

Fielding,  writing  nearly  ten  years  after  the  repeal 
of  the  act,  says  that  he  has  reason  to  believe  that 
"gin  is  the  principal  sustenance  (if  it  may  be  so 
called)  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  people 
in  the  metropolis,"  and  he  attributed  to  it  most  of 
the  crimes  committed  by  the  wretches  with  whom 
he  had  to  deal.  "  The  intoxicating  draught  itself 
disqualifies  them  from  any  honest  means  to  acquire 
it,  at  the  same  time  that  it  removes  sense  of  fear 
and  shame,  and  emboldens  them  to  commit  every 
wicked  and  desperate  enterprise." 

The  passion  for  gaming,  again,  "  the  school  in 
which  most  highwaymen  of  great  eminence  have 
been  bred,"  was  a  fruitful  source  of  immoral  de- 
generacy.   Every  one  gambled.    In  the  Ge^itleman's 


258  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Magazine  for  1731  there  is  the  following  entry: 
"  At  night  their  Majesties  played  for  the  benefit  of 
the  groom  porter,  and  the  king  (George  II)  and 
queen  each  won  several  hundreds,  and  the  Duke  of 
Grafton  several  thousands  of  pounds."  His 
Majesty's  lieges  followed  his  illustrious  example, 
and  all  manner  of  games  of  chance  with  cards  or 
dice,  such  as  hazard,  Pharaoh,  basset,  roly-poly, 
were  the  universal  diversion  in  clubs,  public  places, 
and  private  gatherings.  The  law  had  thundered, 
but  to  no  purpose,  against  "  this  destructive  vice," 
inflicting  fines  on  those  who  indulged  in  it,  declaring 
securities  won  at  play  void,  with  other  penalties,  yet 
gaming  throve  and  flourished.  It  was  fostered  and 
encouraged  by  innumerable  hells,  w'hich  the  law  in 
vain  strove  to  put  down.  Nightly  raids  were  made 
upon  them.  In  the  same  number  of  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine  as  that  just  quoted  it  is  recorded,  that 
"  the  High  Constable  of  Holborn  searched  a  no- 
torious gaming-house  behind  Gray's  Inn  Road ;  but 
the  gamesters  were  fled,  only  the  keeper  was  ar- 
rested and  bound  over  for  £200."  Again,  I  find  in 
Wade's  "  Chronology  "  that  "  Justice  Fielding,  hav- 
ing received  information  of  a  rendezvous  of 
gamesters  in  the  Strand,  procured  a  strong  party 
of  the  Guards,  who  seized  forty-five  of  the  tables, 
which  they  broke  to  pieces,  and  carried  the  game- 
sters before  the  justice.  .  .  .  Under  each  of  the 
broken  tables  were  observed  two  iron  rollers  and 
two  private  springs,  which  those  who  were  in  the 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        259 

secret  could  touch  and  stop  the  turning  whenever 
they  had  flats  to  deal  with."  No  wonder  these 
establishments  throve.  They  were  systematically 
organized,  and  administered  by  duly  appointed  of- 
ficers. 

There  was  the  commissioner,  who  checked  the 
week's  accounts  and  pocketed  the  takings;  a  di- 
rector to  superintend  the  room ;  an  operator  to  deal 
the  cards,  and  four  to  five  croupiers,  who  watched 
the  cards  and  gathered  in  the  money  of  the  bank. 
Besides  these  there  were  "  puffs,"  who  had  money 
given  them  to  decoy  people  to  play:  a  clerk  and  a 
squib,  who  were  spies  upon  the  straight  dealings  of 
the  puffs;  a  flasher  to  swear  how  often  the  bank 
was  stripped ;  a  dunner  to  recover  sums  lost ;  a 
waiter  to  snuff  candles  and  fill  in  the  wine;  and  an 
attorney  or  "  Newgate  solicitor."  A  flash  captain 
was  kept  to  fight  gentlemen  who  were  peevish  about 
losing  their  money ;  at  the  door  was  a  porter,  "  gen- 
erally a  soldier  of  the  foot-guards,"  ^  who  admitted 
visitors  after  satisfying  himself  that  they  were  of 
the  right  sort.  The  porter  had  aides-de-camp  and 
assistants  —  an  "  orderly  man,"  who  patrolled  the 
street  and  gave  notice  of  the  approaching  consta- 
bles ;  a  "  runner,"  who  watched  for  the  meetings 
of    the   justices   and   brought    intelligence   of    the 

*  Soldiers  in  the  Guards,  after  long  and  faithful  service, 
were  granted  leave  of  absence  from  military  duty  in  order 
to  take  civil  situations  which  did  not  monopolize  all  their 
time.     By  this  means  they  eked  out  their  scanty  pay. 


26o  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

constables  being  out;  and  a  host  of  link-boys,  coach- 
men, chair-men,  drawers  to  assist,  with  "  com- 
mon-bail affidavit "  men,  ruffians,  bravos,  and 
assassins  for  any  odd  job  that  might  turn  up  re- 
quiring physical  strength. 

As  the  years  passed  the  vice  grew  in  magnitude. 
Large  fortunes  were  made  by  the  proprietors  of 
gaming-houses,  thanks  to  the  methodized  employ- 
ment of  capital  (invested  regularly  as  in  any  other 
trading  establishment),  the  invention  of  E.  O.  ta- 
bles, and  the  introduction  of  the  "  foreign  games 
of  roiilct  and  rouge  et  noir.  Little  short  of  a  mil- 
lion must  have  been  amassed  in  this  way,"  indi- 
viduals having  acquired  from  £10,000  to  £100,000 
apiece. 

The  number  of  the  gambling  establishments  daily 
multiplied.  They  were  mounted  regardless  of  ex- 
pense. Open  house  was  kept,  and  free  luxurious 
dinners  laid  for  all  comers.  Merchants  and  bankers' 
clerks  entrusted  with  large  sums  were  especially 
encouraged  to  attend.  The  cost  of  entertainment 
in  one  house  alone  was  £8,000  for  eight  months, 
while  the  total  expenditure  on  all  as  much  as 
£150,000  a  year.  The  gambling-house  keepers, 
often  prize-fighters  originally,  or  partners  admitted 
for  their  skill  in  card-sharping  or  cogging  dice, 
possessed  such  ample  funds  that  they  laughed  at 
legal  prosecutions.  Witnesses  were  suborned,  of- 
ficers of  justice  bribed,  informers  intimidated. 
Armed  ruffians  and  bludgeon  men  were  employe^:! 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        261 

to  barricade  the  houses  and  resist  the  civil  power. 
Private  competed  with  pubHc  hells. 

Great  ladies  of  fashion,  holding  their  heads  high 
in  the  social  world,  made  their  drawing-rooms  into 
gambling-places,  into  which  young  men  of  means 
were  enticed  and  despoiled.  This  was  called 
"  pidgeoning,"  probably  the  first  use  of  the  expres- 
sion. The  most  noted  female  gamesters  were  Lady 
Buckinghamshire,  Lady  Archer,  Lady  Mount  Edge- 
combe, a  trio  who  had  earned  for  themselves  the 
soubriquet  of  "  Faro's  Daughters."  Their  conduct 
came  under  severe  reprehension  of  Lord  Kenyon, 
who,  in  summing  up  a  gambling  case,  warned  them 
that  if  they  came  before  him  in  connection  with 
gambling  transactions,  "  though  they  should  be  the 
first  ladies  of  the  land,"  they  should  certainly  ex- 
hibit themselves  in  the  pillory.  This  well-merited 
threat  was  reproduced  in  various  caricatures  of  the 
day,  under  such  heads  as,  "  Ladies  of  Elevated 
Rank ;  "  "  Faro's  Daughters,  Beware !  "  "  Disci- 
pline a  la  Kenyon." 

The  Government  itself  was  in  a  measure  responsi- 
ble for  the  diffusion  of  the  passion  for  gambling. 
The  pernicious  custom  of  public  lotteries  practically 
legalized  this  baneful  vice.  State  lotteries  began  in 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  existed  down  to  1826. 
They  brought  in  a  considerable  revenue,  but  they 
did  infinite  mischief  by  developing  the  rage  for 
speculation,  which  extended  to  the  whole  com- 
munity.    The  rich  could  purchase  whole  tickets,  or 


262  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

"  great  goes ;  "  for  the  more  impecunious  the  tickets 
were  sub-divided  into  "  Httle  goes."  Those  who  had 
no  tickets  at  all  could  still  gamble  at  the  lottery 
insurance  offices  by  backing  any  particular  num- 
ber to  win.  The  demoralization  was  widespread. 
It  reached  a  climax  in  the  South  Sea  Bubble,  when 
thousands  and  thousands  were  first  decoyed,  then 
cruelly  deceived  and  beggared.  But  lotteries  lin- 
gered on  till  the  Government  at  length  awoke  to 
the  degradation  of  obtaining  an  income  from  such 
a  source. 

While  crime  thus  stalked  rampant  through  the 
land,  the  law  was  nearly  powerless  to  grapple  and 
check  it.  It  had  practically  but  one  method  of  re- 
pression —  the  wholesale  removal  of  convicted  of- 
fenders to  another  world.  Prevention  as  we  under- 
stand it  had  not  yet  been  invented.  The  metropolis, 
with  its  ill-paved,  dimly  lighted  streets,  was  without 
police  protection  beyond  that  afforded  by  a  few 
feeble  watchmen,  the  sorely  tried  and  often  nearly 
useless  "  Charlies."  The  administration  of  justice 
was  defective ;  the  justices  had  not  sufficient  powers ; 
they  were  frequently  **  as  regardless  of  the  law  as 
ignorant  of  it,"  or  else  were  defied  by  pettifoggers 
and  people  with  money  in  their  pockets.  A  mob 
of  chair-men  or  servants,  or  a  gang  of  thieves,  were 
almost  too  big  for  the  civil  authority  to  repress ;  and 
the  civil  power  generally,  according  to  Fielding,  was 
in  a  lethargic  state. 

The  private  enterprise  of  citizens  had  sought  for 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        263 

some  time  past  to  second  the  efforts  of  the  State, 
and  various  societies  for  the  reformation  of  man- 
ners laboured  hard,  but  scarcely  with  marked  suc- 
cess, to  reduce  crime.  The  first  of  these  societies 
originated  in  the  previous  century  by  six  private 
gentlemen,  whose  hearts  were  moved  by  the  dismal 
and  desperate  state  of  the  country  "  to  engage  in 
the  difficult  and  dangerous  enterprise ;  "  and  it  was 
soon  strengthened  by  the  addition  of  "  persons  of 
eminency  in  the  law,  members  of  Parliament, 
justices  of  the  peace,  and  considerable  citizens  of 
London  of  known  abilities  and  great  integrity." 
There  was  a  second  society  of  about  fifty  persons, 
tradesmen,  and  others;  and  a  third  society  of  con- 
stables, who  met  to  consider  how  they  might  best 
discharge  their  oaths ;  a  fourth  to  give  information ; 
while  other  bodies  of  householders  and  officers 
assisted  in  the  great  work.  These  in  one  year, 
1724,  had  prosecuted  over  twenty-five  hundred  per- 
sons, and  in  the  thirty-three  years  preceding  nearly 
ninety  thousand ;  while  in  the  same  period  they  had 
given  away  four  hundred  thousand  good  books. 
However  well  meant  were  these  efforts,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  they  were  of  little  avail  in  stemming  the 
torrent  of  crime  which  long  continued  to  deluge 
the  country. 

The  character  of  offences  perpetrated  will  best 
be  understood  by  passing  from  the  general  to  the 
particular,  and  briefly  indicating  the  salient  points 
of  a  certain  number  of  typical  cases,  all  of  which 


264  CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

were  in  some  way  or  other  connected  with  New- 
gate. Crime  was  confined  to  no  one  class;  while 
the  lowest  robbed  with  brutal  violence,  members 
of  the  highest  stabbed  and  murdered  each  other 
on  flimsy  pretences,  or  found  funds  for  debauchery 
in  systematic  and  cleverly  contrived  frauds.  Life 
was  held  very  cheap  in  those  days.  Every  one  with 
any  pretensions  carried  a  sword,  and  appealed  to 
it  on  the  slightest  excuse  or  provocation.  Murder- 
ous duels  and  affrays  were  of  constant  occurrence. 
So-called  affairs  of  honour  could  only  be  washed 
out  in  blood.  Sometimes  it  was  a  causeless  quarrel 
in  a  club  or  coffee-house  ending  in  a  fatal  encounter. 
Richard  Savage,  the  poet,  was  tried  for  his  life  for 
a  murder  of  this  kind  in  1727.  In  company  with 
two  friends,  all  three  of  them  being  the  worse  for 
drink,  he  forced  his  way  into  a  private  room  in 
Robinson's  coffee-house,  near  Charing  Cross,  oc- 
cupied by  another  party  carousing.  One  of  Savage's 
friends  kicked  down  the  table  without  provocation. 
"What  do  you  mean  by  that?"  cried  one  side. 
"What  do  you  mean?"  cried  the  other.  Swords 
were  drawn,  and  a  fight  ensued.  Savage,  who 
found  himself  in  front  of  one  Sinclair,  made  several 
thrusts  at  his  opponent,  and  ran  him  through  the 
body.  Lights  were  put  out,  and  Savage  tried  to 
escape,  but  was  captured  in  a  back  court.  He  and 
his  associates  were  committed  first  to  the  gatehouse 
and  thence  to  Newgate.  Three  weeks  later  they 
were  arraigned  at  the  Old  Bailey,  found  guilty  of 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        265 

murder,  and  cast  for  death.  The  king's  pardon 
was,  however,  obtained  for  Savage  through  the 
intercession  of  influential  friends,  but  contrary, 
it  is  said,  to  the  expressed  wish  of  his  mother. 
Savage  was  tried  before  Sir  Francis  Page,  com- 
monly known  as  "  the  hanging  judge."  He  after- 
wards admitted  that  he  had  been  anxious  to  hang 
Savage.  In  his  old  age,  when  his  health  was 
inquired  after,  he  is  reported  to  have  replied,  "  I 
keep  hanging  on,  hanging  on."  Savage  was  the 
illegitimate  child  of  the  Countess  of  Macclesfield, 
the  fruit  of  a  guilty  intrigue  with  Captain  Richard 
Savage,  afterwards  Earl  Rivers.  Lady  Maccles- 
field was  divorced,  and  subsequently  married  Earl 
Rivers;  but  she  conceived  a  violent  hatred  for  the 
child,  and  only  consented  to  settle  an  annuity  of  £50 
upon  him  when  grown  to  man's  estate,  under  threat 
of  exposure  in  the  first  publication  of  Savage's 
poems.  Savage,  after  his  release  from  Newgate, 
retired  into  Wales,  but  he  continued  in  very  dis- 
tressed circumstances,  and  being  arrested  for  debt, 
lingered  for  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  Bristol 
Gaol. 

The  case  of  Major  Oneby  is  still  more  typical 
of  the  times.  He  was  a  military  officer  who  had 
served  in  Marlbro's  wars,  and  not  without  dis- 
tinction, although  enjoying  an  evil  reputation  as  a 
duellist.  When  the  army  lay  in  winter  quarters  at 
Bruges,  he  had  been  "  out,"  and  had  killed  his  man ; 
again  in   Jamaica  he  had  wounded   an  adversary 


266  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

who  presently  died.  After  the  Peace  of  Utrecht 
Major  Oneby  was  placed  on  half -pay,  and  to  eke 
out  his  narrow  means  he  became  a  professional 
gambler,  being  seldom  without  cards  and  dice  in  his 
pocket.  He  was  soon  known  as  a  swaggerer  and 
a  bully,  with  whom  it  was  wisest  not  to  quarrel. 
One  night  in  1727,  however,  he  was  at  play  in  the 
Castle  Tavern  in  Drury  Lane,  when  a  Mr.  Gower 
and  he  fell  out  about  a  bet.  Oneby  threw  a  de- 
canter at  Gower,  and  Gower  returned  the  fire  with 
a  glass.  Swords  were  drawn,  but  at  the  interposi- 
tion of  others  put  up  again.  Gower  was  for  mak- 
ing peace,  but  Oneby  sullenly  swore  he  would  have 
the  other's  blood.  When  the  party  broke  up  he 
called  Gower  into  another  room  and  shut  the  door. 
A  clashing  of  swords  was  heard  within,  the  waiter 
broke  open  the  door,  and  the  company  rushed  in  to 
find  Oneby  holding  up  Gower  with  his  left  hand, 
having  the  sword  in  his  right.  Blood  was  seen 
streaming  through  Gower's  waistcoat,  and  his 
sword  lay  upon  the  floor.  Some  one  said  to  Oneby, 
"  You  have  killed  him ;  "  but  the  major  replied, 
"  No,  I  might  have  done  it  if  I  would,  but  I  have 
only  frightened  him,"  adding,  that  if  he  had  killed 
him  in  the  heat  of  passion  the  law  would  have  been 
on  his  side.  But  his  unfortunate  adversary  did 
actually  die  of  his  wound  the  following  day,  where- 
upon Major  Oneby  was  apprehended  and  locked  up 
in  Newgate.  He  was  tried  the  following  month  at 
the  Old  Bailey,  but  the  jury  could  not  decide  as  to 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        267 

the  exact  measure  of  the  major's  guilt,  except  that 
it  was  clear  he  had  given  the  first  provocation,  while 
it  was  not  denied  he  had  killed  the  deceased. 

A  special  verdict  was  agreed  to,  and  the  case 
with  its  various  points  referred  to  the  twelve  judges. 
The  prisoner,  who  had  hoped  to  escape  with  a  con- 
viction of  manslaughter,  was  remanded  to  New- 
gate, and  remained  there  in  the  State  side  without 
judgment  for  the  space  of  two  years.  Becoming  im- 
patient, he  prayed  the  Court  of  King's  Bench  that 
counsel  might  be  heard  in  his  case,  and  he  was  ac- 
cordingly brought  into  court  before  the  Lord  Chief 
Justice  Raymond,  when  his  counsel  and  those  for 
the  Crown  were  fully  heard.  The  judge  reserved  his 
judgment  till  he  had  consulted  his  eleven  brethren; 
but  the  major,  elated  at  the  ingenious  arguments  of 
his  lawyer,  fully  counted  upon  speedy  release.  On 
his  way  back  to  gaol  he  entertained  his  friends  at 
a  handsome  dinner  given  at  the  Crown  and  Anchor 
Tavern.^  He  continued  to  carouse  and  live  high  in 
Newgate  for  several  months  more,  little  doubting 
the  result  of  the  judges'  conference.  They  met 
after  considerable  delay  in  Sergeant's  Inn  Hall, 
counsel  was  heard  on  both  sides,  and  the  pleadings 
lasted  a  whole  day.  A  friend  called  in  the  evening, 
and  told  him  when  he  was  making  merry  over  a 
bowl  of  punch  that  eleven  of  the  judges  had  decided 
against  him.     This  greatly  alarmed  him;  next  day 

'  Thornbury,  in  his  "  Old  Stories  Retold,"  calls  it  the  King's 
Arms,  on  what  authority  he  does  not  say. 


268  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  keeper  of  Newgate  (Mr.  Akerman)  came  to  put 
irons  on  him,  unless  he  was  prepared  to  pay  for  a 
special  keeper  to  occupy  the  same  room.  Oneby 
was  indignant,  but  helpless.  He  felt  the  ground 
slipping  from  under  his  feet,  and  he  was  almost  pre- 
pared for  the  judgment  delivered  in  open  court 
that  he  had  been  guilty  of  murder,  his  threat  that  he 
would  have  Gower's  blood  having  had  great  weight 
in  his  disfavour. 

Oneby  spent  the  days  before  execution,  in  1729, 
in  fruitless  efforts  to  get  relations  and  friends  to 
use  their  influence  in  obtaining  pardon  for  him. 
Rut  he  was  so  overbearing  that  his  relations  would 
not  visit  him  in  Newgate,  and  his  friends,  if  he  had 
any,  would  not  stir  a  finger  to  help  him.  His  last 
moments  seem  to  have  been  spent  between  laugh- 
ing at  the  broad  jokes  of  his  personal  gaoler,  who 
now  never  left  him,  one  John  Hooper,  afterwards 
public  executioner,'  and  fits  of  rage  against  those 
who  had  deserted  him  in  his  extremity.  He  was 
further  exasperated  by  a  letter  from  an  undertaker 
in  Drury  Lane,  who,  having  heard  that  the  major 
was  to  die  on  the  following  Monday,  promised  to 
perform  the  funeral  "  as  cheap  and  in  as  decent 
a  manner  as  any  man  alive."     Another  cause  of 

*  "What  do  you  bring  this  fellow  here  for?"  Oneby  had 
cried  to  the  keeper  of  Newgate  when  he  appeared  with 
Hooper.  "  Whenever  I  look  at  him  T  shall  think  of  being 
hanged."  Hooper  had  a  forbidding  ronntcnance,  but  he  was 
an  inimitable  mimic,  and  he  soon  made  himself  an  agreeable 
companion  to  the   condemned   man. 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        269 

annoyance  was  the  publication  of  a  broad  sheet,  en- 
titled "  The  Weight  of  Blood,  or  the  Case  of  Major 
John  Oneby,"  the  writer  of  which  had  visited  the 
prisoner,  ostensibly  to  offer  to  suppress  the  publica- 
tion, but  really  as  an  "  interviewer  "  to  obtain  some 
additional  facts  for  his  catchpenny  pamphlet.  The 
major  was  so  indignant  that  he  laid  a  trap  for  the 
author  by  inviting  him  to  revisit  Newgate,  promis- 
ing himself  the  pleasure  of  thrashing  him  when  he 
appeared,  but  the  man  declined  to  be  caught.  On 
the  Saturday  night  before  execution  Oneby,  learn- 
ing that  a  petition  had  been  presented  and  rejected, 
prepared  to  die.  He  slept  soundly  till  four  in  the 
morning,  then  calling  for  a  glass  of  brandy  and 
writing  materials,  he  wrote  his  will.  It  was  brief, 
and  to  the  following  effect : 

"  Cousin  Turvill,  give  Mr.  Akerman,  for  the  turn- 
key below  stairs,  half  a  guinea,  and  Jack  Hooper, 
who  waits  in  my  room,  five  shillings.  The  poor 
devils  have  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  me 
since  I  have  been  here."  After  this  he  begged  to 
be  left  to  sleep ;  but  a  friend  called  about  seven  :  the 
major  cried  feebly  to  his  servant,  "  Philip,  who 
is  that  ?  "  and  it  was  found  that  he  was  bleeding  to 
death  from  a  deep  gash  in  his  wrist.  He  was  dead 
before  a  surgeon  could  be  called  in. 

In  these  disastrous  affrays  both  antagonists  were 
armed.  But  reckless  roisterers  and  swaggering 
bobadils  were  easily  provoked,  and  they  did  not 
hesitate,  in  a  moment  of  mad  passion,  to  use  their 


270         CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

swords  upon  defenceless  men.  Bailiffs  and  tlie 
lesser  officers  of  justice  were  especially  obnoxious 
to  these  high-tempered  bloods.  I  read  in  "  Lut- 
trell,"  under  date  February,  1698,  "  Captain  Dancy 
of  the  Guards  killed  a  bailiff  in  Exeter  Street, 
and  is  committed  to  Newgate."  Again,  in  1705, 
"  Captain  Carlton,  formerly  a  justice  of  the  peace 
for  Middlesex,  is  committed  to  Newgate  for  run- 
ning a  marshal's  man  through  the  body  who  en- 
deavoured to  arrest  him  on  the  parade  by  the  Horse 
Guards  in  St.  James's  Park,  of  which  wound  it  is 
thought  the  man  will  die."  I  can  find  no  mention  of 
the  fate  which  overtook  these  murderers;  but  the 
"  Calendars  "  contain  a  detailed  account  of  another 
murder  of  much  the  same  kind ;  that  perpetrated  by 
the  Marquis  de  Paleoti  upon  his  servant,  John  Nic- 
colo,  otherwise  John  the  Italian,  in  17 18.  The  mar- 
quis had  come  to  England  to  visit  his  sister,  who 
had  married  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury  in  Rome,  and 
had  launched  out  into  a  career  of  wild  extravagance. 
The  duchess  had  paid  his  debts  se\^eral  times,  but  at 
length  declined  to  assist  him  further.  He  was 
arrested  and  imprisoned,  but  his  sister  privately  pro- 
cured his  discharge.  After  his  enlargement,  being 
without  funds,  the  marquis  sent  Niccolo  to  borrow 
what  he  could.  But  "  the  servant,  having  met  with 
frequent  denials,  declined  going,  at  which  the 
marquis  drew  his  sword  and  killed  him  on  the  spot." 
The  marquis  seems  to  have  hoped  to  have  found 
sanctuary  at  the  Bishop  of  Salisbury's,  to  whose 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 


271 


house  he  repaired  as  soon  as  Niccolo's  body  was 
found.  But  he  was  arrested  there  after  having  be- 
haved so  rudely,  that  his  sword,  all  bloody  with 
gore,  had  to  be  taken  from  him,  and  he  was  con- 
veyed to  Newgate.  His  defence  was  weak,  his  guilt 
clear,  and  much  to  his  surprise,  he  was  sentenced 
to  be  hanged.  He  declared  that  it  was  disgraceful 
"  to  put  a  nobleman  to  death  like  a  common  male- 
factor for  killing  a  servant;"  but  his  plea  availed 
little,  and  he  suffered  at  Tyburn  five  weeks  after  the 
murder. 

Forty  years  later  an  English  nobleman,  Earl 
Ferrers,  paid  the  same  extreme  penalty  for  murder- 
ing his  steward.  His  lordship  was  tried  by  his 
peers,  and  after  sentence  until  his  execution  was 
lodged  in  the  Tower,  and  not  in  Newgate.  His  case 
is  sufficiently  well  known,  and  has  already  been 
briefly  referred  to. 

Another  aristocratic  miscreant,  whose  crimes 
only  fell  short  of  murder,  was  Colonel  Francis 
Charteris.  Well  born,  well  educated,  well  intro- 
duced into  life,  he  joined  the  army  under  Marl- 
borough in  the  Low  Countries  as  a  cornet  of  horse, 
and  soon  became  noted  as  a  bold  and  dexterous 
gambler.  His  greed  and  rapacity  were  unbounded ; 
he  lent  money  at  usurious  rates  to  those  whom  he 
had  already  despoiled  of  large  sums  by  foul  play, 
and  having  thus  ruined  many  of  his  brother  officers, 
he  was  brought  to  trial,  found  guilty  of  disgraceful 
conduct,    and    sentenced   by    court    martial    to   be 


272 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


cashiered.  On  his  way  back  to  Scotland,  by  falsely 
swearing  he  had  been  robbed  at  an  inn,  he  swindled 
the  landlord  out  of  a  large  sum  of  money  as  an  in- 
demnity, and  does  not  seem  to  have  been  called  to 
account  for  his  fraud.  In  spite  of  his  antecedents, 
Charteris  obtained  a  new  commission  through 
powerful  friends,  and  was  soon  advanced  to  the 
grade  of  colonel.  Moving  in  the  best  society,  he 
extended  his  gambling  operations,  and  nearly 
robbed  the  Duchess  of  Queensbury  of  £3,000  by  pla- 
cing her  near  a  mirror,  so  that  he  could  see  all  her 
cards.  Escaping  punishment  for  this,  he  continued 
his  depredations  till  he  acquired  a  considerable  for- 
tune and  several  landed  estates.  Fate  overtook  him 
at  last,  and  he  became  the  victim  of  his  own  prof- 
ligacy. Long  notorious  as  an  unprincipled  and 
systematic  seducer,  he  effected  the  ruin  of  num- 
bers, by  means  of  stratagems  and  bribes,  but  was 
at  length  arrested  on  a  charge  of  criminal  assault. 
He  lay  in  Newgate  on  the  State  side,  lightly  ironed, 
and  enjoying  the  best  of  the  prison  until  the  trial 
at  the  Old  Bailey  in  February,  1730.  He  was 
convicted  and  sentenced  to  die,  but  through  the 
strenuous  exertions  of  his  son-in-law,  the  Earl  of 
Wemyss,  obtained  the  king's  pardon.  He  died  two 
years  later,  miserably,  in  Edinburgh,  whither  he 
had  retired  after  his  release.  He  was  long  remem- 
bered with  obloquy.  Doctor  Arbuthnot,  w^ho  wrote 
his  epitaph,  has  best  depicted  his  detestable  char- 
acter, as  a  villain,   "  who  with   an   inflexible  con- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY 


273 


stancy  and  inimitable  impunity  of  life  persisted,  in 
spite  of  age  and  infirmity,  in  the  practice  of  every 
human  vice  except  prodigality  and  hypocrisy,  his 
insatiable  avarice  exempting  him  from  the  first,  and 
his  matchless  impudence  from  the  latter,  .  .  .  and 
who,  having  done  every  day  of  his  life  something 
worthy  of  a  gibbet,  was  once  condemned  to  one  for 
what  he  had  not  done."  Doctor  Arbuthnot  appears 
from  this  to  have  dissented  from  the  verdict  of  the 
jury  by  which  Charteris  was  tried. 

In  times  of  such  general  corruption  it  was  not 
strange  that  a  deplorable  laxity  of  morals  should 
prevail  as  regards  trusts,  whether  public  or  private. 
Even  a  Lord  Chancellor  was  found  guilty  of  venal 
practices  —  the  sale  of  offices,  and  the  misappro- 
priation of  funds  lodged  in  the  Chancery  Court. 
This  was  the  twelfth  Earl  of  Macclesfield,^  who 
sought  thus  dishonestly  to  mend  his  fortunes,  im- 
paired, it  was  said,  by  the  South  Sea  Bubble  specu- 
lations. He  was  tried  before  his  peers,  found 
guilty,  and  declared  for  ever  incapable  of  sitting 
in  Parliament,  or  of  holding  any  office  under  the 
Crown ;  and  further  sentenced  to  a  fine  of  £30,000 
with  imprisonment  in  the  Tower  until  it  was  paid. 

Lord  Macclesfield  promptly  paid  his  fine,  which 
was  but  a  small  part  of  the  money  he  had  amassed 
by  his  speculations,  and  was  discharged.  "  To  the 
disgrace  of  the  times  in  which  he  lived,"  says  the 

*The  husband  of  the  Lady  Macclesfield  who  was  mother 
to  Richard  Savage. 


274 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


biographer  of  Lord  Hardwicke,  "  the  infamy  with 
which  he  had  been  thus  covered  debarred  him 
neither  from  the  favour  of  the  great  nor  even  from 
that  of  his  sovereign." 

Various  cases  of  embezzlement  by  pubHc  officials 
previous  to  this  are  mentioned  by  Luttrell.  Frauds 
upon  the  Exchequer,  and  upon  persons  holding 
Government  annuities,  were  not  infrequent.  The 
first  entry  in  "  Luttrell  "  is  dated  1697,  May,  and 
is  to  the  effect  that  "  Mr.  Marriott,  an  underteller 
in  the  Exchequer,  arrested  for  altering  an  Exche- 
quer bill  for  £10  to  £100,  pleaded  innocency,  but  is 
sent  to  Newgate;"  others  were  implicated,  and  a 
proclamation  was  issued  offering  a  reward  for  the 
apprehension  of  Domingo  Autumes,  a  Portuguese, 
Robert  Marriott,  and  another  for  counterfeiting 
Exchequer  bills.  A  little  later  another  teller,  Mr. 
Darby,  is  sent  to  Newgate  on  a  similar  charge,  and 
in  that  prison  Mr.  Marriott  "  accuses  John  Knight, 
Esq.,  M.  P.,  treasurer  of  customs,  who  is  dis- 
placed." 

Marriott's  confession  follows :  "  He  met  Mr. 
Burton  and  Mr.  Knight  at  Somerset  House,  where 
they  arranged  to  get  twenty  per  cent,  by  making 
Exchequer  bills  specie  bills;  they  offered  Marriott 
£500  a  year  to  take  all  upon  himself  if  discovered. 
It  is  thought  greater  people  are  in  it  to  destroy  the 
credit  of  the  nation."  Following  this  confession, 
bills  were  brought  into  the  House  of  Commons 
charging  Burton,  Knight,  and  Duncombe  with  em- 


THE    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY        275 

bezzlement,  but  "  blanks  are  left  for  the  House  to 
insert  the  punishment,  which  is  to  be  either  fine,  im- 
prisonment, or  loss  of  estates."  Knight  was  found 
guilty  of  endorsing  Exchequer  bills  falsely,  but 
not  of  getting  money  thereby.  Burton  was  found 
guilty;  Buncombe's  name  is  not  mentioned,  and 
Marriott  was  discharged.  But  this  does  not  end 
the  business.  In  the  May  following  "  Mr.  Ellers, 
master  of  an  annuity  office  in  the  Exchequer,  was 
committed  to  Newgate  for  forging  people's  hands 
to  their  orders,  and  receiving  a  considerable  sum  of 
money  thereon."  Again  in  October,  "  Bellingham, 
an  old  offender,  was  convicted  of  felony  in  forging 
Exchequer  bills ;  and  a  Mrs.  Butler,  also  for  forging 
a  bond  of  £20,000,  payable  by  the  executors  of  Sir 
Robert  Clayton  six  years  after  his  death."  Later 
on  (1708)  I  find  an  entry  in  "  Luttrell "  that 
Justice  Dyot,  who  was  a  commissioner  of  the 
Stamp-office,  was  committed  to  Newgate  for  coun- 
terfeiting stamps,  which  others  whom  he  informed 
against  distributed.  Of  the  same  character  as  the 
foregoing  was  the  offence  of  Mr.  Lemon,  a  clerk  in 
the  Pell  office  of  the  Exchequer,  who  received  £300 
in  the  name  of  a  gentlewoman  deceased,  and  kept  it, 
for  which  he  was  turned  out  of  his  place.  Other 
unfaithful  public  servants  were  to  be  found  in  other 
departments.  Robert  Lowther,  Esq.,  was  taken  into 
custody  on  the  25th  October,  1721,  by  order  of  the 
Privy  Council,  for  his  tyrannical  and  corrupt  ad- 
ministration when  governor  of  the  Island  of  Bar- 


276  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

badoes.  Twenty  years  later  the  House  of  Commons 
fly  at  still  higher  game,  and  commit  the  Solicitor  of 
the  Treasury  to  Newgate  for  refusing  to  answer 
questions  put  to  him  by  the  secret  committee  which 
sat  to  inquire  into  Sir  Robert  Walpole's  adminis- 
tration. This  official  had  been  often  charged  with 
the  Prime  Minister's  secret  disbursements,  and  he 
was  accused  of  being  recklessly  profuse. 


CHAPTER    IX 

LATER    RECORDS 

Crimes  more  commonplace,  but  more  atrocious  —  Murder 
committed  by  Catherine  Hayes  and  her  accomplices  —  She 
is  burned  alive  for  petty  treason  —  Sarah  Malcolm,  the 
Temple  murderess  —  Other  prominent  and  typical  murders 
—  Wife  murderers  —  Theodore  Gardelle,  the  murderer  of 
Mrs.  King  —  Two  female  murderers  —  Mrs.  Meteyard  — 
Her  cruelty  to  a  parish  apprentice  —  Elizabeth  Brownrigg 
beats  Mary  Clifford  to  death  —  Governor  Wall  —  His  severe 
and  unaccommodating  temper  —  Trial  of  Sergeant  Arm- 
strong—  Punished  by  drumhead  court  martial  and  flogged 
to  death  —  Wall's  arrest  and  escape  to  the  Continent  — 
Persons  of  note  charged  with  murder  —  Quin,  the  actor, 
kills  Williams  in  self-defence  —  Charles  Macklin  kills  Hal- 
lam,  a  fellow  actor  at  Drury  Lane  —  Joseph  Baretti,  author 
of  the  "  Italian  Dictionary,"  mobbed  in  the  Haymarket,  de- 
fends himself  with  a  pocket-knife,  and  stabs  one  of  his 
assailants. 

Returning  to  meaner  and  more  commonplace 
offenders,  I  find  in  the  records  full  details  of  all 
manner  of  crimes.  Murders  the  most  atrocious  and 
bloodthirsty;  robberies  executed  with  great  in- 
genuity and  boldness  by  both  sexes;  remarkable 
instances  of  swindling  and  successful  frauds ;  early 
cases  of  forgery;  coining  carried  out  with  exten- 
sive ramifications ;  piracies  upon  the  high  seas,  long 
practised  with  strange  immunity  from  reprisals. 

277 


278  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Perhaps  the  most  revolting  murder  ever  per- 
petrated, not  excepting  those  of  later  date,  was  that 
in  which  Catherine  Hayes  assisted.  The  victim 
was  her  husband,  an  unoffending,  industrious  man, 
whose  life  she  made  miserable,  boasting  once  indeed 
that  she  would  think  it  no  more  sin  to  murder  him 
than  to  kill  a  dog.  After  a  violent  quarrel  between 
them  she  persuaded  a  man  who  lodged  with  them, 
named  Billings,  and  who  was  either  her  lover  or  her 
illegitimate  son,  to  join  her  in  an  attempt  upon 
Hayes.  A  new  lodger.  Wood,  arriving,  it  was  nec- 
essary to  make  him  a  party  to  the  plot,  but  he  long 
resisted  Mrs.  Hayes's  specious  arguments,  till  she 
clenched  them  by  declaring  that  Hayes  was  an. 
atheist  and  a  murderer,  whom  it  could  be  no  crime 
to  kill ;  moreover  that  at  his  death  she  would  become 
possessed  of  £1,500,  which  she  would  hand  over  to 
Wood. 

Wood  at  last  yielded,  and  after  some  discussion 
it  was  decided  to  do  the  dreadful  deed  while  Hayes 
was  in  his  cups.  After  a  long  drinking  bout,  in 
which  Hayes  drank  wine,  probably  drugged,  and 
the  rest  beer,  the  victim  dragged  himself  to  bed  and 
fell  on  it  in  a  stupor.  Billings  now  went  in,  and 
with  a  hatchet  struck  Hayes  a  violent  blow  on  the 
head  and  fractured  his  skull;  then  Wood  gave  the 
poor  wretch,  as  he  was  not  quite  dead,  two  more 
blows  and  finished  him.  The  next  job  was  to  dis- 
pose of  the  murdered  man's  remains. 

To    evade    identification    Catherine    Hayes    sug- 


LATER   RECORDS  279 

gested  that  the  head  should  be  cut  off,  which  Wood 
effected  with  his  pocket-knife.  She  then  proposed 
to  boil  it,  but  this  was  overruled,  and  the  head  was 
disposed  of  by  the  men,  who  threw  it  into  the 
Thames  from  a  wharf  near  the  Horseferry  at  West- 
minster. They  hoped  that  the  damning  evidence 
would  be  carried  off  by  the  next  tide,  but  it  remained 
floating  near  shore,  and  was  picked  up  next  day  by 
a  watchman,  and  handed  over  to  the  parish  officers, 
by  whom,  when  washed  and  the  hair  combed,  it 
was  placed  on  the  top  of  a  pole  in  the  churchyard  of 
St.  Margaret's,  Westminster.  Having  got  rid  of 
the  head,  the  murderers  next  dealt  with  the  body, 
which  they  dismembered,  and  packed  the  parts  into 
a  box.  This  was  conveyed  to  Marylebone,  where 
the  pieces  were  taken  out,  wrapped  in  an  old  blanket, 
and  sunk  in  a  pond. 

Meanwhile  the  exposed  head  had  been  viewed 
by  curious  crowds,  and  at  last  a  Mr.  Bennet,  an 
organ-builder,  saw  a  resemblance  to  the  face  of 
Hayes,  with  whom  he  had  been  acquainted;  an- 
other person,  a  journeyman  tailor,  also  recognized 
it,  and  inquiries  were  made  of  Catherine  as  to  her 
husband.  At  first  she  threw  people  off  the  scent 
by  confessing  that  Hayes  had  killed  a  man  and 
absconded,  but  being  questioned  by  several  she  told 
a  different  story  to  each,  and  presently  suspicion 
fell  upon  her.  As  it  had  come  out  that  Billings  and 
Wood  had  been  drinking  with  Hayes  the  last  time 
he  was  seen,  they  were  included  in  the  warrant, 


28o  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

which  was  now  issued  for  the  apprehension  of  the 
murderers.  The  woman  was  arrested  by  Mr. 
Justice  Lambert  in  person,  who  had  "  procured  the 
assistance  of  two  officers  of  the  Life  Guards,"  and 
Billings  with  her.  One  was  committed  to  the  Bride- 
well, Tothill  Fields,  the  other  to  the  Gatehouse. 
Catherine's  conduct  when  brought  into  the  presence 
of  her  murdered  husband's  head  almost  passes  be- 
lief. Taking  the  glass  bottle  in  which  it  had  been 
preserved  into  her  arms,  she  cried,  "It  is  my  dear 
husband's  head,"  and  shed  tears  as  she  embraced  it. 
The  surgeon  having  taken  the  head  out  of  the  case, 
she  kissed  it  rapturously,  and  begged  to  be  indulged 
with  a  lock  of  his  hair.  Next  day  the  trunk  and 
remains  of  the  corpse  were  discovered  at  Maryle- 
bone  without  the  head,  and  the  justices,  nearly  satis- 
fied as  to  the  guilt  of  Catherine  Hayes,  committed 
her  to  Newgate.  Wood  was  soon  after  captured, 
and  on  hearing  that  the  body  had  been  found  con- 
fessed the  whole  crime.  Billings  shortly  did  the 
same;  but  Mrs.  Hayes  obstinately  refused  to  admit 
her  guilt.  This  atrocious  creature  was  for  the 
moment  the  centre  of  interest ;  numbers  visited  her 
in  Newgate,  and  sought  to  learn  her  reasons  for 
committing  so  dreadful  a  crime;  but  she  gave  dif- 
ferent and  evasive  answers  to  all. 

At  her  trial  she  pleaded  hard  to  be  exempted  from 
the  penalty  of  petty  treason,  which  was  at  that  time 
burning,  alleging  that  she  was  not  guilty  of  striking 
the  fatal  blow.     The  crime  of  petty  treason  was 


LATER   RECORDS  281 

established  when  any  person  out  of  malice  took 
away  the  Hfe  of  another  to  whom  he  or  she  owed 
special  obedience  —  as  when  a  servant  killed  his 
master,  a  wife  her  husband,  or  an  ecclesiastic  his 
superior.  The  wife's  accomplices  in  the  murder  of 
a  husband  were  not  deemed  gT-iilty  of  petty  treason. 
She  was  told  the  law  must  take  its  course.  Billings 
and  Wood  hoped  they  might  not  be  hung  in  chains, 
but  received  no  answer.  Wood  actually  died  in 
prison  before  execution;  Billings  suffered  at 
Tyburn,  and  was  hung  in  chains  near  the  pond  in 
Marylebone.  Mrs.  Hayes  tried  to  destroy  herself, 
but  failed,  and  was  literally  burnt  alive.  The  fire 
reaching  the  hands  of  the  hangman,  he  let  go  the 
rope  by  which  she  was  to  have  been  strangled,  and 
the  flames  slowly  consumed  her,  as  she  pushed  the 
blazing  fagots  from  her,  and  rent  the  air  with  her 
agonized  cries.  Her  execution,  which  took  place  on 
9th  May,  1726,  was  not  the  last  of  its  kind.  In 
November,  1750,  Amy  Hutchinson  was  burnt  at 
Ely,  after  a  conviction  of  petty  treason,  having  poi- 
soned a  husband  newly  married,  whom  she  had 
taken  to  spite  a  truant  lover.  In  1767,  again,  Ann 
Sowerly  underwent  the  same  awful  sentence  at 
York.  She  also  had  poisoned  her  husband.  Last 
of  all,  on  the  loth  March,  1788,  a  woman  was  burnt 
before  the  debtors'  door  of  Newgate.  Having  been 
tied  to  a  stake  and  seated  on  a  stool,  the  stool  was 
withdrawn  and  she  was  strangled.  After  that  she 
was  burnt.     Her  offence  was  coining.     In  the  fol- 


282  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

lowing-  year,  1789,  an  act  was  passed  which 
abolished  this  cruel  custom  of  burning  women  for 
petty  treason. 

Sarah  Malcolm  was  another  female  monster,  a 
wholesale  murderess,  whose  case  stands  out  as  one 
of  peculiar  atrocity  even  in  those  bloodthirsty  times. 
She  was  employed  as  a  laundress  in  the  Temple, 
where  she  waited  on  several  gentlemen,  and  had 
also  access  in  her  capacity  of  charwoman  to  the 
chambers  occupied  by  an  aged  lady  named  Mrs. 
Duncombe.^  Sarah's  cupidity  was  excited  by  the 
chance  sight  of  her  mistress's  hoarded  wealth,  both 
in  silver  plate  and  broad  coins,  and  she  resolved  to 
become  possessed  of  it,  hoping  when  enriched  to 
gain  a  young  man  of  her  acquaintance  named 
Alexander  as  her  husband.  Mrs.  Duncombe  had 
two  other  servants,  Elizabeth  Harrison,  also  aged, 
and  a  young  maid  named  Ann  Price,  who  resided 
with  her  in  the  Temple.  One  day  (Feb.  2.  1733)  a 
friend  coming  to  call  upon  Mrs.  Duncombe  was 
unable  to  gain  admittance.  After  some  delay  the 
rooms  were  broken  into,  and  their  three  occupants 
were  found  barbarously  murdered,  the  girl  Price 
in  the  first  room,  with  her  throat  cut  from  ear  to 
ear,  her  hair  loose,  hanging  over  her  eyes,  and  her 

*  As  barristers  often  preferred  to  do  business  at  their  own 
homes,  chambers  in  the  Temple  were  rather  at  a  discount 
just  then,  and  their  landlords,  "preferring  tenants  of  no  legal 
skill  to  no  tenants  at  all,  let  them  out  to  any  that  offered, 
..."  consequently  many  private  people  creep  about  the  Inns 
of  Court.  —  "Newgate  Calendar,"  i.  470. 


LATER    RECORDS  283 

hands  clenched ;  in  the  next  lay  Elizabeth  Harrison 
on  a  press  bed,  strangled;  and  last  of  all,  old 
Mrs.  Duncombe,  also  lying  across  her  bed,  quite 
dead.  The  strong  box  had  been  broken  open  and 
rifled. 

That  same  night  one  of  the  barristers,  returning 
to  his  chambers  late,  found  Sarah  Malcolm  there 
kindling  a  fire,  and  after  remarking  upon  her  ap- 
pearance at  that  strange  hour,  bade  her  begone, 
saying,  that  no  person  acquainted  with  Mrs.  Dun- 
combe should  be  in  his  chambers  till  the  murderer 
was  discovered.  Before  leaving  she  confessed  to 
having  stolen  two  of  his  waistcoats,  whereupon  he 
called  the  watch  and  gave  her  into  custody.  After 
her  departure,  assisted  by  a  friend,  the  barrister 
made  a  thorough  search  of  his  rooms,  and  in  a 
cupboard  came  upon  a  lot  of  linen  stained  with 
blood,  also  a  silver  tankard  with  blood  upon  the 
handle.  The  watchmen  had  suffered  Sarah  to  go 
at  large,  but  she  was  forthwith  rearrested ;  on 
searching  her,  a  green  silk  purse  containing  twenty- 
one  counters  was  found  upon  her,  and  she  was 
committed  to  Newgate.  There,  on  arrival,  she 
sought  to  hire  the  best  accommodation,  offering 
two  or  three  guineas  for  a  room  upon  the  Master 
Debtors'  side.  Roger  Johnston,  a  turnkey,  upon 
this  searched  her,  and  discovered  "  concealed  under 
her  hair,"  no  doubt  in  a  species  of  a  chignon,  "  a  bag 
containing  twenty  moidores,  eighteen  guineas,  and 
a  number  of  other  broad  pieces."    This  money  she 


284  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

confessed  had  come  from  Mrs.  Duncombe;  but  she 
stoutly  denied  all  complicity  with  the  murder,  or 
that  she  had  done  more  than  contrive  the  robbery. 
She  charged  two  brothers,  named  Alexander,  one 
the  man  she  desired  to  marry,  and  a  woman,  Mary 
Tracy,  with  the  greater  crime.  Upon  her  informa- 
tion they  were  arrested  and  confronted  with  her. 
She  persisted  in  this  line  of  defence  at  her  trial,  but 
the  circumstantial  evidence  against  her  was  so 
strong  that  the  jury  at  once  found  her  guilty.  She 
herself  had  but  little  hope  of  escape,  and  had 
been  heard  to  cry  out  on  her  first  commitment, 
"  I  am  a  dead  woman."  She  was  duly  executed 
at  Tyburn.  The  Alexanders  and  Tracy  were  dis- 
charged. 

I  have  specially  instanced  these  foul  murders  as 
exhibiting  circumstances  of  atrocity  rarely  equalled 
in  the  records  of  crime.  Catherine  Hayes  and 
Sarah  Malcolm  were  unsexed  desperadoes,  whose 
misdeeds  throw  into  the  shade  those  of  the  Man- 
nings and  Kate  Websters  of  later  times.  But 
women  had  no  monopoly  of  assassination,  in  those 
days  when  life  was  held  so  cheap.  Male  murderers 
were  still  more  numerous,  and  also  more  pitiless  and 
bloodthirsty.  The  calendars  are  replete  with  homi- 
cides, and  to  refer  to  them  in  anything  like  detail 
would  both  weary  and  disgust  the  reader.  I  shall 
do  no  more,  therefore,  than  briefly  indicate  here 
a  certain  number  of  the  more  prominent  cases  re- 
markable either  from  the  position  of  the  criminals. 


LATER   RECORDS  285 

the  ties  by  which  they  were  bound  to  their  victims, 
or  the  horrible  character  of  the  crime. 

The  hangman  figures  among  the  murderers  of 
this  epoch.  John  Price,  who  filled  the  office  in  17 18, 
and  who  rejoiced  in  the  usual  official  soubriquet  of 
"  Jack  Ketch,"  was  a  scoundrel  rendered  still  more 
callous  and  cruel  by  his  dreadful  calling.  He  had 
begun  life  well,  as  an  apprentice,  but  he  absconded, 
and  entering  the  navy,  "  served  with  credit  on  board 
different  kings'  ships  for  eighteen  years."  On  his 
discharge,  seeking  employment,  he  obtained  the 
situation  of  public  executioner.  He  might  have 
lived  decently  on  the  hangman's  wages  and  per- 
quisites, but  he  was  a  spendthrift,  who  soon  be- 
came acquainted  with  the  interiors  of  the  debtors' 
prisons  for  Middlesex.  Once  he  was  arrested  on  his 
way  back  from  Tyburn  after  a  good  day's  work, 
having  in  his  possession,  besides  fees,  the  complete 
suits  of  three  men  who  had  just  been  executed.  He 
gave  up  all  this  to  liquidate  the  debt,  but  the  value 
being  insufficient,  he  was  lodged  in  the  Marshal- 
sea. 

When  released,  in  due  course  he  returned  to  his 
old  employment,  but  was  soon  arrested  again,  and 
on  a  serious  charge  —  that  of  a  murderous  assault 
upon  a  poor  woman  who  sold  gingerbread  through 
the  streets.  He  had  shamefully  attacked  her,  and 
maddened  by  her  resistance,  had  ill-used  her  ter- 
ribly. "  He  beat  her  so  cruelly,"  the  account  says, 
"  that  streams  of  blood  issued  from  her  eyes  and 


286         CHRONICLES    OF   NEWGATE 

month;  he  broke  one  of  her  arms,  knocked  out 
some  of  her  teeth,  bruised  her  head  in  a  most 
shameful  manner,  and  forced  one  of  her  eyes  from 
the  socket." 

One  account  says  that  he  was  taken  red-handed 
close  to  the  scene  of  his  guilt;  another,  the  more 
probable,  that  he  was  arrested  on  his  way  to  Tyburn 
with  a  convict  for  the  gallows.  In  any  case  his  un- 
fortunate victim  had  just  life  left  in  her  to  bear 
testimony  against  him.  Price  was  committed  to 
Newgate,  and  tried  for  his  life.  His  defence  was, 
that  in  crossing  Moorfields  he  found  something 
lying  in  his  way,  which  he  kicked  and  found  to  be 
the  body  of  a  woman.  He  lifted  her  up,  but  she 
could  not  stand  on  her  legs.  The  evidence  of  others 
was  too  clear,  and  the  jury  did  not  hesitate  to  con- 
vict. After  sentence  he  abandoned  himself  to 
drink,  and  obstinately  refused  to  confess.  But  on 
the  day  before  his  execution  he  acknowledged  that 
he  had  committed  the  crime  while  in  a  state  of 
intoxication.  He  was  hanged  in  Bunhill  Fields,  and 
his  body  afterwards  exhibited  in  chains  in  Hollo- 
way  near  the  scene  of  the  murder. 

Wife-murder  was  of  common  occurrence  in  these 
reckless  times.  The  disgraceful  state  of  the  mar- 
riage laws,  and  the  facility  with  which  the  matri- 
monial knot  could  be  tied,  often  tempted  un- 
scrupulous   people    to    commit    bigamy.^       Louis 

* "  Beau "  Fielding,  who  was  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  in 
1706  for  committing  bigamy  with  the  Duchess  of  Cleveland, 


LATER   RECORDS  287 

Houssart  was  of  French  extraction,  settled  in  Eng- 
land, who  married  Ann  Rondeau  at  the  French 
church  in  Spitalfields.  After  about  three  years 
"  he  left  his  wife  with  disgust,"  and  going  into 
the  city,  passed  himself  off  as  a  single  man.  Be- 
coming acquainted  v/ith  a  Mrs.  Hern,  he  presently 
married  her.  He  had  not  been  long  married  before 
his  new  wife  taxed  him  with  having  another  wife. 
He  swore  it  was  false,  and  offered  to  take  the 
sacrament  upon  it.  She  appeared  satisfied,  and 
begged  him  to  clear  his  reputation.  "  Do  not  be 
uneasy,"  he  said ;  "  in  a  little  time  I  will  make  you 
sensible  I  have  no  other  wife."  He  now  resolved 
to  make  away  with  the  first  Mrs.  Louis  Houssart, 
otherwise  Ann  Rondeau,  and  reopened  communica- 
tions with  her.  Finding  her  in  ill-health,  one  day 
he  brought  her  "  a  medicine  which  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  conserve  of  roses,  which  threw  her 
into  such  severe  convulsive  fits  that  her  life  was 
despaired  of  for  some  hours;  but  at  length  she  re- 
covered." This  attempt  having  failed,  he  tried  a 
simpler  plan.  Dressed  in  a  white  coat,  with  sword 
and  cane,  he  went  one  evening  to  the  end  of  Swan 
Alley,  where  his  wife  lived  with  her  mother,  and 
finding  a  boy,  gave  him  a  penny  to  go  and  tell  Mrs. 
Rondeau  that  a  gentleman  wanted  to  speak  to  her 

is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  instances  of  this.  See  "  Cele- 
brated Trials,"  iii.  534.  Also  see  the  trial  of  the  Duchess  of 
Kingston,  "  Remarkable  Trials,"  203.  She  was  tried  by  the 
House  of  Lords,  found  guilty,  but  pleaded  her  peerage  and 
was  discharged. 


288  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

in  a  neighbouring  public-house.  When  she  left 
the  house,  Houssart  went  in,  found  his  wife  alone, 
and  cut  her  throat  with  a  razor. 

Thus  murdered   she  was  found  by  her  mother 
on    her    return,    after    inquiring    in    vain    for    the 
gentleman  who  was   said   to  be  waiting   for  her. 
Suspicion  fell  on  Houssart,  who  was  arrested  and 
tried,  but  for  want  of  the  boy's  evidence  acquitted 
of  the  murder.     But  he  was  detained  in  Newgate 
to  take  his  trial  for  bigamy.     While  waiting  sen- 
tence, the  boy,  a  lad  of  thirteen,  who  knew  of  the 
murder   and   arrest,   and   who   thought   he   would 
be  hanged  if  he  confessed  that  he  had  carried  the 
message  to  Mrs.   Rondeau,  came  forward  to  give 
evidence.     He  was  taken  to  Newgate  into  a  room, 
and  identified   Houssart  at  once  among  seven  or 
eisfht  others.     The  brother  of  the  deceased.  Solo- 
mon  Rondeau,  as  heir,  now  lodged  an  appeal,  in 
the   names   of   John    Doe   and    Richard   Roe    (an 
ancient  form  of  legal  procedure),  against  Houssart, 
who  was  eventually  again  brought  to  trial.    Various 
pleas  were  put  forward  by  the  defence  in  bar  of 
further  proceedings,  among  others  that  there  were 
no  such  persons  as  John  Doe  and  Richard  Roe, 
but  this  plea,  with  the  rest,  was  overruled,  the  fact 
being    sworn   to   that   there    was    a   John    Doe    in 
Middlesex,  a  weaver,  also  a  Richard  Roe,  who  was 
a  soldier,  and  the  trial  went  on.     Tlie  boy's  evi- 
dence was  very  plain.     He  remembered  Houssart 
distinctly,  had  seen  him  by  the  light  of  a  lantern 


LATER   RECORDS  289 

at  a  butcher's  shop;  he  wore  a  whitish  coat.  The 
boy  also  recognized  Mrs.  Rondeau  as  the  woman 
to  whom  he  gave  the  message.  Others  swore  to  the 
white  coat  which  Houssart  had  on;  but  the  most 
damning  evidence  was  that  of  a  friend  whom  he 
had  summoned  to  see  him  in  Newgate,  and  whom 
he  asked  to  swear  that  they  had  been  drinking  to- 
gether in  Newgate  Street  at  the  time  the  murder 
was  committed.  Houssart  offered  this  witness  a 
new  shirt,  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  and  twenty  guineas 
to  swear  for  him.  The  prisoner,  however,  owned 
that  he  did  give  the  boy  a  penny  to  call  the  old 
woman  out,  and  that  he  then  went  in  and  gave  his 
wife  "  a  touch  with  the  razor,  but  did  not  think  of 
killing  her."  The  prisoner  was  found  guilty 
and  hanged  at  the  end  of  Swan  yard  in  Shoreditch. 
Vincent  Davis  was  another  miscreant  who  mur- 
dered his  wife,  under  much  the  same  conditions. 
He  had  long  barbarously  ill-used  her;  he  kept  a 
small  walking-cane  on  purpose  to  beat  her  with, 
and  at  last  so  frightened  her  by  his  threats  to  kill 
her  that  she  ran  away  from  him.  She  returned 
one  night,  but  finding  that  he  had  put  an  open 
knife  by  the  bedside,  she  placed  herself  under  the 
protection  of  the  landlady,  who  advised  her  to 
swear  the  peace  against  him  and  get  him  impris- 
oned. Next  day  the  brutal  husband  drove  her 
out  of  the  house,  declaring  she  had  no  right  to  be 
in  his  company,  as  he  was  married  to  "  Little 
Jenny."     But  she  implored  him  to  be  friends,  and 


290  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

having  followed  him  to  an  ale-house  seeking 
reconciliation,  he  so  slashed  her  fingers  with  a  knife 
that  she  came  back  with  bleeding  hands.  That 
same  night,  when  his  wife  met  him  on  his  return 
home,  he  ordered  her  to  light  him  to  his  room,  then 
drawing  his  knife,  stabbed  her  in  the  breast.  The 
poor  woman  bled  to  death  in  half  an  hour.  Davis 
after  the  deed  was  done  was  seized  with  contrition, 
and  when  arrested  and  on  his  way  to  Newgate,  he 
told  the  peace  officer  that  he  had  killed  the  best  wife 
in  the  world.  ''  I  know  I  shall  be  hanged,"  lie 
added ;  "  but  for  God's  sake  don't  let  me  be 
anatomized."  This  man  is  said  to  have  assumed  an 
air  of  bravado  while  he  lay  under  sentence  of  death, 
but  his  courage  deserted  him  as  the  time  for  execu- 
tion approached.  He  had  such  a  dread  of  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  surgeons  that  he  wrote  to 
several  friends  begging  them  to  rescue  his  body  if 
any  attempt  should  be  made  at  the  gallows  to  re- 
move it.  He  was  hanged  at  Tyburn  on  the  30th 
April,  1725;  but  the  calendar  does  not  state  what 
happened  to  his  corpse. 

George  Price,  who  murdered  his  wife  in  1738, 
had  an  analogous  motive :  he  wished  to  release 
himself  from  one  tie  in  order  to  enter  into  another. 
He  was  in  service  in  Kent,  his  wife  lived  in  lodg- 
ings in  Highgate,  and  their  family  increased  far 
more  rapidly  than  he  liked.  Having  for  some  time 
paid  his  addresses  to  a  widow  in  Kent,  he  at  length 
resolved  to  remove  the  only  obstacle  to  a  second 


LATER   RECORDS  291 

and  more  profitable  marriage.  With  this  infernal 
object  in  view  he  went  to  Highgate,  and  told  his 
wife  that  he  had  secured  a  place  for  her  at  Putney, 
to  which  he  would  himself  drive  her  in  a  chaise. 
She  was  warned  by  some  of  his  fellow  servants 
against  trusting  herself  alone  with  him,  but  "  she 
said  she  had  no  fear  of  him,  as  he  had  treated  her 
with  unusual  kindness."  They  drove  off  towards 
Hounslow.  On  the  way  she  begged  him  to  stop 
while  she  bought  some  snuff,  but  he  refused,  laugh- 
ingly declaring  she  would  never  want  to  use  snuff 
again.  When  they  reached  Hounslow  Heath  it  was 
nearly  ten  o'clock  at  night.  The  time  and  place 
being  suitable,  he  suddenly  threw  his  wdiip-lash 
round  his  wife's  throat  and  drew  it  tight.  As  the 
cord  was  not  quite  in  the  right  place  he  coolly 
altered  it,  and  disregarding  her  entreaties,  he  again 
tightened  the  rope;  then  finding  she  was  not  quite 
dead,  pulled  it  with  such  violence  that  it  broke,  but 
not  till  the  murder  was  accomplished.  Having 
stripped  the  body,  he  disfigured  it,  as  he  hoped, 
beyond  recognition,  then  left  it  under  a  gibbet  on 
which  some  malefactors  were  hanging  in  chains, 
and  returned  to  London  with  his  wife's  clothes, 
part  of  which  he  dropped  about  the  street,  and 
part  he  gave  back  to  her  landlady,  to  wdiom  they 
belonged.  Being  seen  about,  so  many  inquiries 
were  made  for  his  wife  that  he  feared  detection, 
and  fled  to  Portsmouth. 

Next  day   he  heard  the  murder   cried  through 


292  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

the  streets  by  the  bellman,  and  found  that  it  was 
his  own  case,  with  an  exact  description  of  his  ap- 
pearance. He  at  once  jumped  out  of  the  window 
—  the  inn  was  by  the  waterside  —  and  swam  to 
another  part  of  the  shore.  Thence  he  made  his 
way  into  the  country  and  got  chance  jobs  as  a 
farm-labourer.  At  Oxford  he  found  that  he  was 
advertised  in  the  local  paper,  and  he  again  de- 
camped, travelling  on  and  on  till  he  reached  his 
own  home  in  Wales.  His  father  gave  him  refuge 
for  a  couple  of  days,  but  a  report  of  his  being  in 
the  house  got  about,  and  he  had  to  fly  to  Glouces- 
ter, where  he  became  an  ostler  at  an  inn.  In 
Gloucester  he  was  again  recognized  as  the  man 
who  had  killed  his  wife  on  Hounslow  Heath,  by 
a  gentleman  who  promised  not  to  betray  him,  but 
warned  him  that  he  would  be  taken  into  custody 
if  he  remained  in  town.  "  Agitated  by  the  momen- 
tary fear  of  detection,  Price  knew  not  how  to  act," 
and  he  resolved  at  length  to  go  back  to  London 
and  give  himself  up  to  justice.  He  called  first  on 
his  former  master,  was  apprehended,  and  committed 
to  Newgate.  He  took  his  trial  in  due  course,  and 
was,  on  "  the  strongest  circumstantial  evidence  ever 
adduced  against  an  offender,"  cast  for  death,  but 
fell  a  victim  to  the  gaol-fever  in  October,  1738. 

Mention  of  two  more  heinous  cases  of  wife-mur- 
der may  be  made.  The  second  marriage  of  Edward 
Joines,  contracted  at  the  Fleet,  was  not  a  happy 
one.      His    wife   had   a    violent   temper,    and   they 


LATER   RECORDS  293 

continually  disagreed.  A  daughter  of  hers  lived 
with  them,  and  the  two  women  contrived  to  aggra- 
vate and  annoy  Joines  to  desperation.  He  re- 
taliated by  brutal  treatment.  On  one  occasion  he 
pushed  his  wife  into  the  grate  and  scorched  her 
arm;  frequently  he  drove  her  out-of-doors  in 
scanty  clothing  at  late  hours  and  in  inclement 
weather.  One  day  his  anger  was  roused  by  seeing 
a  pot  of  ale  going  into  his  house  for  his  wife,  who 
was  laid  up  with  a  fractured  arm.  He  rushed  in, 
and  after  striking  the  tankard  out  of  her  hand, 
seized  her  by  the  bad  arm,  twisted  it  till  the  bone 
again  separated.  The  fracture  was  reset,  but  mor- 
tification rapidly  supervened,  and  she  died  within 
ten  days.  The  coroner's  jury  in  consequence  brought 
in  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder  against  Joines. 
He  was  in  due  course  convicted  of  murder,  al- 
though it  was  difficult  to  persuade  him  that  he  had 
had  a  fair  trial,  seeing  that  his  wife  did  not  suc- 
cumb immediately  to  the  cruel  injury  she  had  re- 
ceived at  his  hands.  In  December,  1739,  he  was 
executed. 

The  second  wife  of  John  Williamson  received 
still  more  terrible  and  inhumane  treatment  at  his 
hands.  This  ruffian  within  three  weeks  after  his 
marriage  drenched  his  wife  with  cold  water,  and 
having  otherwise  ill-used  her,  inflicted  the  follow- 
ing diabolical  torture.  Having  fastened  her  hands 
behind  with  handcuffs,  he  lifted  her  off  the  ground, 
with  her  toes  barely  touching  it,  by  a  rope  run 


294  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

through  a  staple.  She  was  locked  up  in  a  closet, 
and  close  by  was  placed  a  small  piece  of  bread 
and  butter,  which  she  could  just  touch  with  her 
lips.  She  was  allowed  a  small  portion  of  water 
daily.  Sometimes  a  girl  who  was  in  the  house 
gave  the  poor  creature  a  stool  to  rest  her  feet  on, 
but  Williamson  discovered  it,  and  was  so  furious 
that  he  nearly  beat  the  girl  to  death.  The  wretched 
woman  was  kept  in  this  awful  plight  for  more  than 
a  month  at  a  time,  and  at  length  succumbed.  She 
died  raving  mad.  Williamson  when  arrested  made 
a  frivolous  defence,  declaring  his  wife  provoked 
him  by  treading  on  a  kitten  and  killing  it.  In  1760 
he  was  found  guilty  and  executed. 

The  victim  of  Theodore  Gardelle  was  a  woman, 
although  not  his  wife.  This  murder  much  exer- 
cised the  public  mind  at  the  time.  The  perpetrator 
was  a  foreigner,  a  hitherto  inoffensive  miniature 
painter,  who  was  goaded  into  such  a  frenzy  by  the 
intolerable  irritation  of  the  woman's  tongue,  that 
he  first  struck  and  then  despatched  her.  lie  lodged 
with  a  Mrs.  King  in  Leicester  Fields,  whose 
miniature  he  had  painted,  but  not  very  successfully. 
She  had  desired  to  have  the  portrait  particularly 
good,  and  in  her  disappointment  gave  the  un- 
fortunate painter  no  peace.  One  morning  she  came 
into  the  parlour  which  he  used,  and  which  was 
en  suite  with  her  bedroom,  and  immediately  at- 
tacked him  about  the  miniature.  Provoked  by  her 
insults,  Gardelle  told  her  she  was  a  very  impertinent 


LATER   RECORDS  295 

woman;  at  which  she  struck  him  a  violent  blow  on 
the  chest.  He  pushed  her  from  him,  "  rather  in  con- 
tempt than  anger,"  as  he  afterwards  declared,  "  and 
with  no  desire  to  hurt  her;  "  her  foot  caught  in  the 
floor-cloth,  she  fell  backward,  and  her  head  came 
with  great  force  against  a  sharp  corner  of  the  bed- 
stead, for  Gardelle  apparently  had  followed  her 
into  her  bedroom.  The  blood  immediately  gushed 
from  her  mouth,  and  he  at  once  ran  up  to  assist 
her  and  express  his  concern;  but  she  pushed  him 
away,  threatening  him  with  the  consequences  of  his 
act.  He  was  greatly  terrified  at  the  thought  of 
being  charged  with  a  criminal  assault ;  but  the  more 
he  strove  to  pacify  the  more  she  reviled  and 
threatened,  till  at  last  he  seized  a  sharp-pointed 
ivory  comb  which  lay  upon  her  toilet-table  and 
drove  it  into  her  throat.  The  blood  poured  out 
in  still  greater  volume  and  her  voice  gradually 
grew  fainter  and  fainter,  and  she  presently  expired. 
Gardelle  said  afterwards  he  drew  the  bedclothes 
over  her,  then,  horrified  and  overcome,  fell  by  her 
side  in  a  swoon.  When  he  came  to  himself  he 
examined  the  body  to  see  if  Mrs.  King  were  quite 
dead,  and  in  his  confusion  staggered  against  the 
wainscot  and  hit  his  head  so  as  to  raise  a  great 
bump  over  his  eye. 

Gardelle  now  seems  to  have  considered  with 
himself  how  best  he  might  conceal  his  crime.  There 
was  only  one  other  resident  in  the  house,  a  maid 
servant,  who  was  out  on  a  message  for  him  at  the 


296  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

time  of  his  fatal  quarrel  with  Mrs.  King.  When 
she  returned  she  found  the  bedroom  locked,  and 
Gardelle  told  her  her  mistress  had  gone  into  the 
country  for  the  day.  Later  on  he  paid  her  wages 
on  behalf  of  Mrs.  King  and  discharged  her,  with 
the  explanation  that  her  mistress  intended  to  bring 
home  a  new  maid  with  her.  Having  now  the 
house  to  himself,  he  entered  the  chamber  of  death, 
and  stripped  the  body,  which  he  laid  in  the  bed. 
He  next  disposed  of  the  blood-stained  bedclothes 
by  putting  them  to  soak  in  a  wash-tub  in  the  back 
wash-house.  A  servant  of  an  absent  fellow  lodger 
came  in  late  and  asked  for  Mrs.  King,  but  Gardelle 
said  she  had  not  returned,  and  that  he  meant  to 
sit  up  for  her  and  let  her  into  the  house.  Next 
morning  he  explained  Mrs.  King's  absence  by  say- 
ing she  had  come  late  and  gone  off  again  for  the 
day. 

This  went  on  from  Wednesday  to  Saturday; 
but  no  suspicion  of  anything  wrong  had  as  yet 
been  conceived,  and  the  body  still  lay  in  the  same 
place  in  the  back  room.  On  Sunday  Gardelle  be- 
gan to  put  into  execution  a  project  for  destroying 
the  body  in  parts,  which  he  disposed  of  by  throw- 
ing them  down  the  sinks,  or  spreading  in  the 
cockloft.  On  Monday  and  Tuesday  inquiries  be- 
gan to  be  made  for  Mrs.  King,  and  Gardelle  con- 
tinued to  say  that  he  expected  her  daily,  but  on 
Thursday  the  stained  bedclothes  were  found  in  the 
wash-tub.      Gardelle   was   seen   coming    from    the 


LATER    RECORDS  297 

wash-house,  and  was  heard  to  ask  what  had  become 
of  the  Hnen.  This  roused  suspicion  for  the  first 
time.  The  discharged  maid  servant  was  hunted  up, 
and  as  she  declared  she  knew  nothing  of  the  wash- 
tub  or  its  contents,  and  as  Mrs.  King  was  still 
missing,  the  neighbours  began  to  move  in  the  mat- 
ter. Mr.  Barron,  an  apothecary,  came  and  ques- 
tioned Gardelle,  who  was  so  much  confused  in  his 
answers  that  a  warrant  was  obtained  for  his  arrest. 
Then  Mrs.  King's  bedroom  was  examined,  and  that 
of  Gardelle,  now  a  prisoner.  In  both  were  found 
conclusive  evidence  of  foul  play.  By  and  by  in  the 
cockloft  and  elsewhere  portions  of  the  missing 
woman  were  discovered,  and  some  jewelry  known 
to  be  hers  was  traced  to  Gardelle,  who  did  not  long 
deny  his  giiilt.  When  he  was  in  the  new  prison  at 
Clerkenwell  he  tried  to  commit  suicide  by  taking 
forty  drops  of  opium ;  but  it  failed  even  to  procure 
him  sleep.  After  this  he  swallowed  halfpence  to 
the  number  of  twelve,  hoping  that  the  verdigreese 
would  kill  him,  but  he  survived  after  suffering 
great  tortures.  He  was  removed  then  to  Newgate 
for  greater  security,  and  was  closely  watched  till  the 
end.  After  a  fair  trial  he  was  convicted  and  cast 
for  death.  His  execution  took  place  in  the  Hay- 
market  near  Panton  Street,  to  which  he  was  led 
past  Mrs.  King's  house,  and  at  which  he  cast  one 
glance  as  he  passed.  His  body  was  hanged  in 
chains  on  Hounslow  Heath. 

Women  were  as  capable  of  fiendish  cruelty  as 


298  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

men,  and  displayed  greater  and  more  diabolical 
ingenuity  in  devising  torments  for  their  victims. 
Two  murders  typical  of  this  class  of  crime  may 
be  quoted  here.  One  was  that  committed  by  the 
Meteyards,  mother  and  daughter,  upon  an  appren- 
tice girl ;  the  other  that  of  Elizabeth  Brownrigg, 
also  on  an  apprentice.  The  Meteyards  kept  a 
millinery  shop  in  Bruton  Street,  Berkeley  Square, 
and  had  five  parish  apprentices  bound  to  them. 
One  was  a  sickly  girl,  Anne  Taylor  by  name. 
Being  unable  to  do  as  much  work  as  her  employers 
desired,  they  continually  vented  their  spite  upon 
her.  After  enduring  great  cruelty  Anne  Taylor 
absconded;  she  was  caught,  brought  back  to 
Bruton  Street,  and  imprisoned  in  a  garret  on  bread 
and  water;  she  again  escaped,  and  was  again  re- 
captured and  cruelly  beaten  with  a  broom-handle. 
Then  they  tied  her  with  a  rope  to  the  door  of  a 
room  so  that  she  could  neither  sit  nor  lie  down, 
and  she  was  so  kept  for  three  successive  days,  but 
suffered  to  go  to  bed  at  night-time.  On  the  third 
night  she  was  so  weak  she  could  hardly  creep  up- 
stairs. On  the  fourth  day  her  fellow  apprentices 
were  brought  to  witness  her  torments  as  an  in- 
centive to  exertion,  but  were  forbidden  to  afford 
her  any  kind  of  relief.  On  this,  the  last  day  of 
her  torture,  she  faltered  in  speech  and  presently 
expired.  The  Meteyards  now  tried  to  bring  their 
victim  to  with  hartshorn,  but  finding  life  was  ex- 
tinct, they  carried  the  body  up  to  the  garret  and 


LATER   RECORDS  299 

locked  it  in.  Then  four  days  later  they  enclosed 
it  in  a  box,  left  the  garret  door  ajar,  and  spread  a 
report  through  their  house  that  "  Nanny  "  had  once 
more  absconded.  The  deceased  had  a  sister,  a 
fellow  apprentice,  who  declared  she  was  persuaded 
"Nanny"  was  dead;  whereupon  the  Meteyards 
also  murdered  the  sister  and  secreted  the  body. 
Anne's  body  remained  in  the  garret  for  a  couple 
of  months,  when  the  stench  of  decomposition  was 
so  great  that  the  murderesses  feared  detection,  and 
after  chopping  the  corpse  in  pieces,  they  burnt  parts 
and  disposed  of  others  in  drains  and  gully-holes. 
Four  years  elapsed  without  suspicion  having  been 
aroused,  but  there  had  been  constant  and  violent 
quarrels  between  mother  and  daughter,  the  former 
frequently  beating  and  ill-using  the  latter,  who  in 
return  reviled  her  mother  as  a  murderess.  During 
this  time  the  daughter  left  her  home  to  live  with  a 
Mr.  Rooker  as  servant  at  Ealing.  Her  mother 
followed  her,  and  still  behaved  so  outrageously  that 
the  daughter,  in  Mr.  Rooker's  presence,  upbraided 
her  with  what  they  had  done.  He  became  uneasy, 
and  cross-questioned  them  till  they  confessed  the 
crime.  Both  women  were  arrested  and  tried  at  the 
Old  Bailey,  where  they  were  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced to  death.  The  mother  on  the  morning  of 
her  execution  was  taken  with  a  fit  from  which  she 
never  recovered,  and  she  was  in  a  state  of  insensi- 
bility when  hanged. 

Elizabeth  Brownri gg  was  the  wife  of  a  plumber 


300 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


who  carried  on  business  in  Flower  de  Luce  Court, 
Fleet  Street.  She  practised  midwifery,  and  re- 
ceived parish  apprentices,  whom  she  took  to  save 
the  expense  of  keeping  servants.  Two  girls,  victims 
of  her  cruel  ill-usage,  ran  away,  but  a  third,  Mary 
Clifford,  bound  to  her  by  the  parish  of  Whitefriars, 
remained  to  endure  still  worse.  Her  inhuman 
mistress  repeatedly  beat  her,  now  with  a  hearth- 
broom,  now  with  a  horsewhip  or  a  cane.  The  girl 
was  forced  to  lie  at  nights  in  a  coal-hole,  with  no 
bed  but  a  sack  and  some  straw.  She  was  often 
nearly  perished  with  cold.  Once,  after  a  long  diet 
of  bread  and  water,  when  nearly  starved  to  death, 
she  rashly  broke  into  a  cupboard  in  search.,of  food 
and  was  caught  in  the  act.  Mrs.  Brownrigg,  to 
punish  her,  made  her  strip,  and  while  she  was 
naked  repeatedly  beat  her  with  the  butt  end  of  a 
whip.  Then  fastening  a  jack-chain  around  her 
neck  she  drew  it  as  tight  as  possible  without 
strangling,  and  sent  her  back  to  the  coal-hole  with 
her  hands  tied  behind  her  back.  Mrs.  Brownrigg's 
son  vied  with  his  mother  in  ill-treating  the  ap- 
prentices, and  when  the  mistress  was  tired  of  horse- 
whipping, the  lad  continued  the  savage  punishment. 
When  Mary  Clifford  complained  to  a  French 
lodger  of  the  barbarity  she  experienced,  Mrs. 
Brownrigg  flew  at  her  and  cut  her  tongue  in  two 
places  with  a  pair  of  scissors.  Other  apprentices 
were  equally   ill-used,   and  they   were   all  covered 


LATER   RECORDS  301 

with  wounds  and  bruises  from  the  cruel  flagella- 
tions they  received. 

At  length  one  of  the  neighbours,  alarmed  by  the 
constant  moaning  and  groanings  which  issued  from 
Brownrigg's  house,  began  to  suspect  that  "  the 
apprentices  were  treated  with  unwarrantable 
severity."  It  was  impossible  to  gain  admission,  but 
a  maid  looked  through  a  skylight  into  a  covered 
yard,  and  saw  one  of  the  apprentices,  in  a  shocking 
state  of  filth  and  wretchedness,  kept  there  with  a 
pig.  One  of  the  overseers  now  went  and  demanded 
Mary  Clifford.  Mrs.  Brownrigg  produced  another, 
Mary  Mitchell,  who  was  taken  to  the  workhouse, 
but  in  such  a  pitiable  state  that  in  removing  her 
clothes  her  bodice  stuck  to  her  wounds.  Mary 
Mitchell  having  been  promised  that  she  should  not 
be  sent  back  to  Brownrigg's,  gave  a  full  account 
of  the  horrid  treatment  she  and  Mary  Clifford  had 
received.  A  further  search  was  made  in  the  Brown- 
riggs'  house,  but  without  effect.  At  length,  under 
threat  of  removal  to  prison,  Mrs.  Brownrigg  pro- 
duced Clifford  from  a  cupboard  under  a  buffet  in 
the  dining-room.  "  It  is  impossible,"  says  the 
account,  "  to  describe  the  miserable  appearance  of 
this  poor  girl ;  nearly  her  whole  body  was 
ulcerated."  Her  life  was  evidently  in  imminent 
danger.  Having  been  removed  to  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Hospital,  she  died  there  within  a  few  days. 
The  man  Brownrigg  was  arrested,  but  the  woman 


302  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

and  son  made  their  escape.  Shifting  their  abode 
from  place  to  place,  buying  new  disguises  from 
time  to  time  at  rag- fairs,  eventually  they  took 
refuge  in  lodgings  at  Wandsworth,  where  they  were 
recognized  by  their  landlord  as  answering  the 
description  of  the  murderers  of  Mary  Clifford,  and 
arrested.  Mrs.  Brownrigg  was  tried  and  executed; 
the  men,  acquitted  of  the  graver  charge,  were  only 
sentenced  to  six  months'  imprisonment.  The  story 
runs  that  Hogarth,  who  prided  himself  on  his  skill 
as  a  physiognomist,  wished  to  see  Mrs.  Brownrigg 
in  Newgate.  The  governor,  Mr.  Akerman,  ad- 
mitted him,  but  at  the  instance  of  a  mutual  friend 
played  a  trick  upon  the  painter  by  bringing  Mrs. 
Brownrigg  before  him  casually,  as  some  other 
woman.  Hogarth  on  looking  at  her  took  Akerman 
aside  and  said,  "  You  must  have  two  great  female 
miscreants  in  your  custody,  for  this  woman  as  well 
as  Mrs.  Brownrigg  is  from  her  features  capable  of 
any  cruelty  and  any  crime."  This  story,  although 
ben  trovato,  is  apocryphal.  At  the  time  of  this 
alleged  visit  to  Newgate  Hogarth  was  not  alive. 

I  pass  now  to  murders  of  less  atrocity,  the  result 
of  temporary  and  more  or  less  ungovernable 
passion,  rather  than  of  malice  deliberate  and  afore- 
thought. In  this  class  must  be  included  the  case 
of  Mr.  Plunkett,  a  young  gentleman  of  Irish  ex- 
traction, who  murdered  a  peruke-maker,  when  asked 
an  exorbitant  price  for  a  wig.  Brown  had  made 
it  to  order  for   Mr.   Plunkett,   and  wanted  seven 


LATER  RECORDS 


303 


pounds  for  it.  After  haggling  he  reduced  it  to 
six.  Plunkett  offered  four,  and  on  this  being  re- 
fused, seized  a  razor  lying  handy  and  cut  Brown's 
throat. 

A  somewhat  similar  case  was  that  of  Mr.  Edward 
Bird,  a  well-born  youth,  who  had  been  educated  at 
Eton,  and  after  making  the  grand  tour  had  re- 
ceived a  commission  in  a  regiment  of  horse.  Un- 
fortunately he  led  a  wild,  dissolute  life,  associating 
with  low  characters.  One  morning,  after  spend- 
ing the  night  in  a  place  of  public  resort,  he  ordered 
a  bath.  One  waiter  deputed  the  job  to  another,  the 
latter  went  to  Bird  to  apologize  for  the  delay.  Bird, 
growing  furious,  drew  his  sword,  and  made  several 
passes  at  the  waiter,  who  avoided  them  by  holding 
the  door  in  his  hand,  and  then  escaped  down-stairs. 
Bird  pursued,  threw  the  man  down,  breaking  his 
ribs.  On  this  the  master  of  the  house  and  another 
waiter,  by  name  Loxton,  tried  to  appease  Bird,  but 
the  latter,  frantic  at  not  having  the  bath  when 
ordered,  fell  upon  Loxton  and  ran  him  through 
with  his  sword.  Loxton  dropped  and  died  almost 
instantaneously.  Bird  was  arrested,  committed  to 
Newgate,  and  eventually  tried  for  his  life.  He  was 
convicted  and  received  sentence  of  death,  but  great 
interest  was  made  to  get  it  commuted  to  transporta- 
tion. His  powerful  friends  might  have  obtained  it 
but  for  the  protests  of  Loxton's  representatives,  and 
Bird  was  ordered  for  execution.  The  night  before 
he  first  tried  poison,  then  stabbed  himself  in  sev- 


304  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

eral  places,  but  survived  to  be  taken  the  following 
morning  to  Tyburn  in  a  mourning  coach,  attended 
by  his  mother  and  the  ordinary  of  Newgate.  At 
the  gallows  he  asked  for  a  glass  of  wine  and  a 
pinch  of  snuff,  which  "  he  took  with  apparent  un- 
concern, wishing  health  to  those  who  stood  near 
him.  He  then  repeated  the  Apostle's  Creed  and 
was  launched  into  eternity." 

The  military  were  not  overpopular  at  times, 
when  party  disputes  ran  high,  and  the  soldiery 
were  often  exposed  to  contumely  in  the  streets.  It 
must  be  admitted  too  that  they  were  ready  enough 
to  accept  any  quarrel  fastened  upon  them.  Thus 
William  Hawksworth,  a  guardsman,  while  march- 
ing through  the  park  with  a  party  to  relieve  guard 
at  St.  James's,  left  the  ranks  to  strike  a  woman 
who  he  thought  had  insulted  his  cloth.  It  was  not 
she,  however,  but  her  companion  who  had  cried, 
"  What  a  stir  there  is  about  King  George's 
soldiers!"  This  companion,  by  name  Ransom, 
resented  the  blow,  and  called  Hawksworth  a  puppy, 
whereupon  the  soldier  clubbed  his  musket  and 
knocked  the  civilian  down.  Hawksworth  marched 
on  with  his  guard;  Ransom  was  removed  to  the 
hospital  with  a  fractured  skull,  and  died  in  a  few 
hours.  But  a  bystander,  having  learned  the  name  of 
the  offender,  obtained  a  warrant  against  Hawks- 
worth, who  was  committed  to  Newgate.  He  was 
ably  defended  at  his  trial,  and  his  commanding  of- 
ficer gave  him  an  excellent  character.    But  the  facts 


LATER   RECORDS  305 

were  so  clearly  proved  that  conviction  was  im- 
perative. For  some  time  he  was  buoyed  up  with 
the  hope  of  reprieve,  but  this  failed  him  at  the  last, 
and  he  went  to  Tyburn  solemnly  declaring  that 
Ransom  hit  him  first;  that  he  had  no  malice  against 
the  deceased,  and  he  hardly  remembered  leaving 
the  ranks  to  strike  him. 

Two  cases  may  well  be  inserted  here,  although 
belonging  to  a  somewhat  later  date.  Both  were 
murders  committed  under  the  influence  of  strong 
excitement :  one  was  the  fierce  outburst  of  passion- 
ate despair  at  unrequited  love;  the  other  the  rash 
action  of  a  quick-tempered  man  who  was  vested 
for  the  moment  with  absolute  power.  The  first 
was  the  murder  of  Miss  Reay  by  the  Rev.  James 
Hackman,  the  second  the  flogging  to  death  of  the 
Sergeant  Armstrong  by  order  of  Colonel  Wall, 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Goree. 

Mr.  Hackman  had  held  a  commission  in  the 
68th  Foot,  and  while  employed  on  the  recruiting 
service  at  Huntingdon,  had  been  hospitably  re- 
ceived at  Hinchingbroke,  the  seat  of  Lord  Sand- 
wich. At  that  time  a  Miss  Reay  resided  there 
under  the  protection  of  his  lordship,  by  whom  she 
had  had  nine  children.  Hackman  fell  desperately  in 
love  with  Miss  Reay,  and  the  lady  did  not  al- 
together reject  his  attentions.  A  correspondence 
between  them,  which  bears  every  appearance  of 
authenticity,  was  published  after  the  murder  under 
the  title  of  "  Love  and  Madness,"  and  the  letters  on 


3o6  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

both  sides  are  full  of  ardent  protestations.  Hack- 
man  continued  to  serve  for  some  time,  but  the  exile 
from  the  sight  of  his  beloved  became  so  intolerable 
that  he  sold  out,  took  orders,  and  entered  the 
Church,  obtaining  eventually  the  living  of  Wiver- 
ton  in  Norfolk. 

He  had  determined  to  marry  Miss  Reay  if  she 
would  accept  him,  and  one  of  the  last  letters  of 
the  correspondence  above  quoted  proves  that  the 
marriage  arrangements  were  all  but  completed.  On 
the  I  St  March,  1779,  he  writes:  "In  a  month 
or  six  weeks  at  farthest  from  this  time  I  might 
certainly  call  you  mine.  Only  remember  that  my 
character  now  I  have  taken  orders  renders  exhibi- 
tion necessary.  By  to-night's  post  I  shall  write 
into  Norfolk  about  the  alterations  at  our  par- 
sonage." But  within  a  few  weeks  a  cloud  over- 
shadowed his  life.  It  is  only  vaguely  indicated  in 
a  letter  to  a  friend,  dated  the  20th  March,  in  which 
he  hints  at  a  rupture  between  Miss  Reay  and  him- 
self. "  What  I  shall  do  I  know  not  —  without  her 
I  do  not  think  I  can  exist."  A  few  days  later  he 
wrote  to  the  same  friend :  "  Despair  goads  me  on 
—  death  only  can  relieve  me.  .  .  .  What  then 
have  I  to  do,  who  only  lived  when  she  loved  me, 
but  cease  to  live  now  she  ceases  to  love?" 

At  this  period  it  is  evident  that  the  idea  of  suicide 
only  occupied  his  overwrought  brain.  He  wrote 
on  the  7th  April :  "  When  this  reaches  you  I  shall 
be  no  more.    .    .    .    You  know  where  my  affections 


LATER    RECORDS  307 

were  placed;  my  having  by  some  means  or  other 
lost  hers  (an  idea  which  I  could  not  support)  has 
driven  me  to  madness."  So  far  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  contemplated  any  violence  against  Miss 
Reay,  for  in  his  letter  he  commends  her  to  the  kind 
offices  of  his  friend.  He  spent  that  day  in  self- 
communing  and  in  reading  a  volume  of  Doctor 
Blair's  sermons.  In  the  evening  he  went  from  his 
lodgings  in  Duke's  Court,  St.  Martin's  Lane, 
towards  the  Admiralty,  and  saw  Miss  Reay  drive 
by  to  the  Covent  Garden  Theatre.  He  followed  her 
into  the  theatre  and  gazed  at  her  for  the  last  time. 
Then,  unable  to  restrain  the  violence  of  his  passion, 
he  returned  to  his  lodgings,  and  having  loaded  two 
pistols,  returned  to  Covent  Garden,  where  he  waited 
in  the  piazza  till  the  play  was  over.  When  Miss 
Reay  came  out  he  stepped  up  with  a  pistol  in  each 
hand.  One  he  fired  at  her,  and  killed  her  on  the 
spot;  the  other  he  discharged  at  himself,  but  with- 
out fatal  effect.  He  was  at  once  arrested,  and 
when  his  wound  had  been  dressed,  was  committed 
by  Sir  John  Fielding  to  Tothill  Fields,  and  after- 
wards to  Newgate.  He  wrote  from  prison  to  the 
same  friend  as  follows : 

"  I  am  alive and  she  is  dead.     I  shot  her, 

shot  her,  and  not  myself.  Some  of  her  blood  and 
brains  is  still  upon  my  clothes.  I  don't  ask  you 
to  speak  to  me,  I  don't  ask  you  to  look  at  me,  only 
come  hither  and  bring  me  a  little  poison,  such  as 
is  strong  enough.     Upon  my  knees  I  beg,  if  your 


3o8  CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

friendship  for  me  ever  was  sincere,  do,  do  bring 
me  some  poison." 

Next  day  he  was  more  composed,  and  declared 
that  nothing  should  tempt  him  to  escape  justice 
by  suicide.  "  My  death,"  he  writes,  "  is  all  the 
recompense  I  can  make  to  the  laws  of  my  country." 
He  was  tried  before  Mr.  Justice  Blackstone  of 
the  Commentaries,  and  convicted  on  the  clearest 
evidence.  A  plea  of  insanity  was  set  up  in  his 
defence,  but  could  not  be  maintained.  His  dig- 
nified address  to  the  jury  had  nothing  of  madness 
in  it,  and  it  is  probable  that  he  had  no  real  desire 
to  escape  the  just  punishment  for  his  crime.  This 
is  shown  by  his  answer  to  Lord  Sandwich,  who 
wrote : 

17th  April,   1779. 

"  TO    MR.    HACKMAN    IN    NEWGATE 

"  If  the  murderer  of  Miss  wishes  to  live, 

the  man  he  has  most  injured  will  use  all  his  in- 
terest to  procure  his  life." 

To  this  Hackman  replied : 

The  Condemned  Cell  in  Newgate, 

17th  April,  1779. 

"  The  murderer  of  her  whom  he  preferred,  far 

preferred  to  life,  respects  the  hand  from  which  he 

has  just  received  such  an  offer  as  he  neither  desires 

nor  deserves.     His  wishes  are  for  death,  not  life. 


LATER   RECORDS 


309 


One  wish  he  has.  Could  he  be  pardoned  in  this 
world  by  the  man  he  has  most  injured  —  oh,  my 
lord,  when  I  meet  her  in  another  world  enable  me 
to  tell  her  (if  departed  spirits  are  not  ignorant  of 
earthly  things)  that  you  forgive  us  both,  that  you 
will  be  a  father  to  her  dear  infants! 

"j.  H." 

The  condemned  man  continued  to  fill  many 
sheets  with  his  reflections  in  the  shape  of  letters 
to  his  friend.  But  they  are  all  rhapsodical  to  the 
last  degree.  The  19th  April  was  the  day  fixed 
for  his  execution,  and  on  that  morning  he  rose  at 
five  o'clock,  dressed  himself,  and  spent  some  time  in 
private  meditation.  About  seven  o'clock  he  was 
visited  by  Mr.  Boswell  and  some  other  friends,  with 
whom  he  went  to  the  chaplain  and  partook  of  the 
sacrament.  During  the  procession  to  Tyburn  he 
seemed  much  affected,  and  said  but  little.  After  hav- 
ing hung  the  usual  time  his  body  was  carried  to  Sur- 
geon's Hall.  He  appears  to  have  written  a  few  last 
words  in  pencil  at  Tyburn  while  actually  waiting 
to  be  turned  off. 

"  My  dear  Charlie,"  he  wrote,  "  farewell  for 
ever  in  this  world.  I  die  a  sincere  Christian  and 
penitent,  and  everything  I  hope  you  can  wish  me. 
Would  it  prevent  my  example's  having  any  bad 
effect  if  the  world  should  know  how  I  abhor  my 
former  ideas  of  suicide,  my  crime?     will  be 


3IO 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


the  best  judge.     Of  her  fame  I  charge  you  to  be 
careful.     My  poorly  will  .  .  . 

"Your   dying    H." 

Miss  Reay  was  buried  at  Elstree,  Herts.,  where 
her  grave  is  still  pointed  out. 

Twenty  years  elapsed  between  the  commission 
of  the  murder  with  which  Governor  Wall  was 
charged  and  his  trial  and  atonement.  The  date 
of  his  execution  was  1802,  a  date  which  would 
bring  the  story  within  the  scope  of  a  later  rather 
than  the  present  chapter.  But  while  postponing  the 
particulars  of  the  execution,  I  propose  to  deal  here 
with  the  offence,  as  it  falls  naturally  into  this  branch 
of  my  subject.  Colonel  Wall  was  governor  and 
commandant  of  Goree,  a  small  island  off  the  coast 
of  Africa  close  to  Cape  Verde,  and  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  French.  It  was  mainly  dependent 
upon  England  for  its  supplies,  and  when  these  ran 
short,  as  was  often  the  case,  the  troops  received  a 
money  compensation  in  lieu  of  rations.  A  sum  was 
due  to  them  in  this  way  on  one  occasion  when  both 
the  governor  and  paymaster  were  on  the  point  of 
leaving  the  island  for  England,  and  a  number  of 
men,  anxious  for  an  adjustment  of  their  claims,  set 
off  in  a  body  to  interview  the  paymaster  at  his 
quarters.  They  were  encountered  en  route  by  the 
governor,  who  reprimanded  them,  and  ordered 
them  to  return  to  their  barracks.  An  hour  or  two 
later  a  second  party  started  for  the  paymaster,  at 


LATER   RECORDS  311 

the  head  of  which  was  a  certain  Sergeant  Arm- 
strong. The  governor  met  them  as  before,  and  ad- 
dressing himself  to  Sergeant  Armstrong,  again 
ordered  the  men  back  to  their  quarters. 

Upon  the  nature  of  this  demonstration  the  whole 
of  the  subsequent  proceedings  hinged.  Governor 
Wall  and  his  witnesses  declared  it  was  a  tumultuous 
gathering,  seventy  or  eighty  strong ;  other  testimony 
limited  the  number  to  about  a  dozen.  Governor 
Wall  alleged  that  the  men  with  Armstrong  were 
armed  and  menacing;  others  that  they  comported 
themselves  in  a  quiet,  orderly  manner.  It  was 
sworn  that  Armstrong,  when  spoken  to  by  the 
governor,  came  up  to  him  submissively,  hat  in 
hand,  addressed  him  as  "  Your  Excellency,"  used 
no  disrespectful  language,  and  withdrew,  with  his 
comrades,  without  noise  or  disturbance.  This  view 
was  supported  by  the  evidence  of  several  officers, 
who  swore  that  they  saw  no  appearance  of  a  mutiny 
on  the  island  that  day;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
governor  urged  that  the  men  had  declared  they 
would  break  open  the  stores  and  help  themselves  if 
they  were  not  settled  with  at  once;  that  they  pre- 
vented him  from  going  to  the  shore,  fearing  he 
meant  to  leave  the  island  in  a  hurry;  and  that  they 
forced  the  main  guard  and  released  a  prisoner.  It 
is  difficult  to  reconcile  statements  so  widely  diver- 
gent; but  the  fact  that  Governor  Wall  left  the 
island  next  day,  and  took  with  him  three  officers 
out  of  the  seven  in  the  garrison;   that  he  made  no 


312  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

special  report  of  the  alleged  mutiny  to  the  military 
authorities  in  London,  and  did  not  even  refer  to 
it  in  minute  returns  prepared  and  forwarded  at  the 
time,  must  be  deemed  very  detrimental  to  Governor 
Wall's  case,  and  no  doubt  weighed  with  the  jury 
which  tried  him.  The  only  conclusion  was  that 
no  mutiny  existed,  but  one  was  assumed  merely  to 
screen  the  infliction  of  an  unauthorized  punish- 
ment. 

To  return  to  the  events  on  the  island.  It  is 
pretty  certain  that  Governor  Wall's  mind  must 
have  been  thrown  off  its  balance  after  he  had  dis- 
missed the  party  headed  by  Armstrong.  He  was 
either  actually  apprehensive  for  the  safety  of  his 
command,  or  was  momentarily  blinded  by  passion 
at  the  seeming  defiance  of  discipline,  and  he  felt 
that  he  must  make  an  example  if  his  authority  was 
to  be  maintained.  Although  many  old  comrades  of 
high  rank  bore  witness  at  his  trial  to  his  great 
humanity  and  good  temper,  there  is  reason  to  fear 
that  to  those  under  his  command  he  was  so  severe 
and  unaccommodating  as  to  be  generally  unpopular, 
and  this  no  doubt  told  against  him  at  his  trial.  He 
was  not  a  .strong,  self-reliant  commander.  It  is 
nearly  certain  that  he  gave  trifles  exaggerated  im- 
portance, and  was  only  too  ready  to  put  in  practice 
the  severest  methods  of  repression  he  had  at  hand. 
In  this  instance,  however,  he  did  not  act  without 
deliberation.  It  was  not  until  six  in  the  evening 
that  he  had  resolved  to  punish  Armstrong  as  the 


LATER  RECORDS 


3^3 


ringleader  of  the  mutiny.  By  that  time  he  had 
fully  laid  his  plans.  The  "  long  roll  "  was  beat 
upon  the  drums,  the  troops  were  assembled  hur- 
riedly as  in  the  case  of  alarm,  and  a  gun-carriage 
was  dragged  into  the  centre  of  the  parade.  The 
governor  then  constituted  a  drumhead  court  mar- 
tial, which  proceeded  to  try  Armstrong  for  mutiny, 
convict,  and  sentence  him  without  calling  upon  him 
to  plead  to  any  charge,  or  hearing  him  in  his  de- 
fence; so  that  he  was  practically  punished  without 
a  trial.  He  was  ordered  eight  hundred  lashes, 
which  were  forthwith  inflicted,  not  as  in  ordinary 
cases  by  the  regimental  drummers,  whom  the  gov- 
ernor thought  were  tinged  with  insubordination, 
but  by  the  black  interpreters  and  his  assistants;  nor 
was  the  regulation  cat-of-nine-tails  used,  as  the 
governor  declared  they  had  all  been  destroyed  by 
the  mutineers,  but  a  very  thick  rope's  end,  which, 
according  to  the  surgeon's  testimony,  did  more 
mischief  than  the  cat.  Armstrong's  punishment 
was  exemplary.  It  was  proved  that  the  governor 
stood  by,  threatening  to  flog  the  blacks  themselves 
unless  they  "  laid  on  "  with  a  will,  and  crying  again 
and  again,  "  Cut  him  to  the  heart !  cut  him  to  the 
liver !  "  Armstrong  begged  for  mercy,  but  he  re- 
ceived the  whole  eight  hundred  lashes,  twenty-five 
at  a  time;  and  when  he  was  cast  loose,  he  said  that 
the  sick  season  was  coming  on,  which  with  the 
punishment  would  certainly  do  for  him.  A  surgeon 
was  present  at  the  infliction,  but  was  not  called  upon 


314 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


to  certify  as  to  Armstrong's  fitness  or  otherwise  for 
corporal  punishment,  nor  did  he  enter  any  pro- 
test. Armstrong  was  taken  at  once  to  hospital,  and 
his  back  was  found  "  as  black  as  a  new  hat." 
From  the  moment  of  his  reception  the  doctors  had 
no  hope  of  his  recovery;  he  gradually  grew  worse 
and  worse,  and  presently  died. 

The  day  after  the  punishment  Governor  Wall 
left  Goree  and  came  to  England,  where  he  ar- 
rived in  August,  1782.  The  news  of  Armstrong's 
death  followed  him,  and  various  reports  as  to  the 
governor's  conduct,  which  were  inquired  into  and 
dismissed.  But  in  1784  a  more  detailed  and  cir- 
cumstantial account  came  to  hand,  and  two  mes- 
sengers were  despatched  to  Bath  by  Lord  Sidney, 
then  Secretary  of  State,  to  arrest  Wall.  They  ap- 
prehended him  and  brought  him  as  far  as  Reading, 
in  a  chaise  and  four,  where  they  alighted  at  an  inn. 
While  the  officers  were  at  supper  he  gave  them  the 
slip  and  got  over  to  France,  whence  he  wrote  prom- 
ising to  surrender  in  the  course  of  a  few  months. 
His  excuse  for  absconding  was  that  many  of  those 
who  would  be  the  principal  witnesses  were  his  per- 
sonal enemies.  He  continued  abroad,  however,  for 
some  years,  residing  sometimes  in  Italy,  more  con- 
stantly in  France,  "  where  he  lived  respectably  and 
was  admitted  into  good  company."  He  affected  the 
society  of  countrymen  serving  in  the  French  army, 
and  was  well-known  to  the  Scotch  and  Irish  Col- 
leges in  Paris.    In  1797  he  returned  to  England  and 


LATER  RECORDS 


315 


remained  in  hiding,  occupying  lodgings  in  Lambeth 
Court,  where  his  wife,  who  was  a  lady  of  good 
family,  regularly  visited  him.  He  is  described  as 
being  unsettled  in  mind  at  this  time,  and  even  then 
contemplating  surrender.  His  means  of  sub- 
sistence were  rather  precarious,  but  he  lived  at  the 
time  of  delivering  himself  up  in  Upper  Thornhaugh 
St.,  Bedford  Square.  In  October,  1801,  he  wrote 
twice  to  Lord  Pelham,  stating  that  he  had  returned 
to  England  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  the  charge 
against  him.  It  was  generally  supposed  that,  had 
he  not  thus  come  forward  voluntarily,  the  matter 
had  nearly  passed  out  of  people's  memory,  and  he 
would  hardly  have  been  molested.  He  was,  how- 
ever, arrested  on  his  own  letter,  committed  to  New- 
gate, and  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey  for  the  murder  of 
Benjamin  Armstrong  at  Goree  in  1782.  He  was 
found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  death.  After  several 
respites  and  strenuous  exertions  to  save  his  life,  he 
was  executed  in  front  of  Newgate  on  the  28th 
January,  1802.  The  whole  of  one  day  was  occupied 
by  the  judges  and  law  officers  in  reviewing  his  case, 
but  their  opinion  was  against  him. 

Three  persons  of  note  and  superior  station  found 
themselves  in  Newgate  about  but  rather  before  this 
time  upon  a  charge  of  murder.  The  first  was  James 
Ouin,  the  celebrated  actor,  the  popular  diner-out 
and  bon  vivanf,  who  went  to  the  west  coast  of  Eng- 
land to  eat  John  Dory  in  perfection,  and  who  pre- 
ferred eating  turtle  in  Bristol  to  London.    He  made 


3i6         CHRONICLES   OF   NEWGATE 

his  first  hit  as  Falstaff  in  the  "  Merry  Wives  of 
Windsor."  He  had  understudied  the  part,  but 
Rich,  manager  of  the  Theatre  Royal,  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields,  substituted  him  for  it  in  an  emergency  with 
great  reluctance.  His  next  hit  was  as  Cato,  in 
which,  with  many  other  parts,  he  succeeded  Booth. 
Quin  was  modest  enough  on  his  first  appearance  as 
Cato  to  announce  that  the  part  would  be  attempted 
by  Mr.  Quin.  The  audience  were,  however,  fully 
satisfied  with  his  performance,  and  after  one  critical 
passage  was  applauded  with  shouts  of  "  Booth 
outdone !  "  It  was  through  this,  his  great  part 
of  Cato,  that  he  was  led  into  the  quarrel  which 
laid  him  open  to  the  charge  of  murder.  One  night 
in  1769  an  inferior  actor  named  Williams,  taking 
the  part  of  messenger,  said,  "  Caesar  sends  health 
to  Cato,"  but  pronounced  Cato  "  Keeto."  Quin, 
much  annoyed,  replied  instantly  with  a  "  gag  "  — 
"  Would  that  he  had  sent  a  better  messenger."  ^ 
Williams  was  now  greatly  incensed,  and  in  the 
Green  Room  later  in  the  evening  complained  bit- 
terly to  Quin  that  he  had  been  made  ridiculous, 
that  his  professional  prospects  were  blighted,  and 
that  he  insisted  upon  satisfaction  or  an  apology. 
Quin  only  laughed  at  his  rage.     Williams,  goaded 

^  Quin  could  not  resist  the  chance  of  making  a  sharp 
speech.  When  desired  by  the  manager  of  Covent  Garden  to 
go  to  the  front  to  apologize  for  Madame  Rollau,  a  celebrated 
dancer,  who  could  not  appear,  he  said,  "  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men, Madame  Rollau  cannot  dance  lo-night,  having  dis- 
located her  ankle  —  I  wish  it  had  been  her  neck." 


LATER  RECORDS 


317 


to  madness,  went  out  into  the  piazza  at  Covent 
Garden  to  watch  for  Quin.  When  the  latter  left 
the  theatre  Williams  attacked  him  with  his  sword. 
Quin  drew  in  his  defence,  and  after  a  few  passes 
ran  Williams  through  the  body.  The  ill-fated 
actor  died  on  the  spot.  Quin  surrendered  himself, 
was  committed,  tried,  found  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter, and  sentenced  to  be  burned  in  the  hand. 
Another  well-known  actor,  Charles  Macklin,  was 
no  less  unfortunate  in  incurring  the  stain  of  blood. 
He  was  a  hot-headed,  intemperate  Irishman,  who, 
when  he  had  an  engagement  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre, 
quarrelled  with  another  actor  over  a  wig.  Going 
down  between  the  pieces  into  the  scene-room,  where 
the  players  warmed  themselves,  he  saw  a  Mr. 
Hallam,  who  was  to  appear  as  Sancho  in  the  "  Fop's 
Fortune,"  wearing  a  stock  wig  which  he  (Macklin) 
had  on  the  night  before.  He  swore  at  him  for  a 
rogue,  and  cried,  "  What  business  have  you  with 
my  wig?"  The  other  answered  that  he  had  as 
much  right  to  it  as  Macklin,  but  presently  went 
away  and  changed  it  for  another.  Macklin  still 
would  not  leave  the  man  alone,  and  taking  the  wig, 
began  to  comb  it  out,  making  grumbling  and 
abusive  remarks,  calling  Hallam  a  blackguard  and  a 
scrub  rascal.  Hallam  replied  that  he  was  no  more 
a  rascal  than  Macklin  was;  upon  which  the  latter 
"  started  from  his  chair,  and  having  a  stick  in  his 
hand,  made  a  full  lunge  at  the  actor,  and  thrust  the 
stick  into  his  left  eye ;  "  pulling  it  back  again  he 


3i8  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

looked  pale,  turned  on  his  heel,  and  in  a  passion 
threw  the  stick  on  the  fire.  Hallam  clapped  his 
hand  to  his  eye  and  said  the  stick  had  gone  through 
his  head.  Young  Mr.  Cibber,  the  manager's  son, 
came  in,  and  a  doctor  was  sent  for;  the  injured 
man  was  removed  to  a  bed,  where  he  expired  the 
following  day.  Macklin  was  very  contrite  and  con- 
cerned at  his  rash  act,  for  which  he  was  arrested, 
and  in  due  course  tried  at  the  Old  Bailey.  Many  of 
the  most  renowned  actors  of  the  day,  Rich,  Fleet- 
wood, Quin,  Ryan,  and  others,  bore  testimony  to 
his  good  character  and  his  quiet,  peaceable  disposi- 
tion. He  also  was  found  guilty  of  manslaughter 
only,  and  sentenced  to  be  burnt  in  the  hand. 

The  third  case  of  killing  by  misadventure  was 
that  of  Joseph  Baretti,  the  author  of  the  well-known 
Italian  and  English  dictionary.  Baretti  had  re- 
sided in  England  for  some  years,  engaged  upon  this 
work;  he  was  a  middle-aged,  respectable  man,  of 
studious  habits,  the  friend  and  associate  of  the  most 
noted  literary  men  and  artists  of  the  day.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  club  of  the  Royal  Academicians  at 
that  time  (1769),  lodged  in  Soho.  and  went  there 
one  afternoon  after  a  long  morning's  work  over  his 
proofs.  Finding  no  one  at  the  club,  he  went  on  to 
the  Orange  coffee-house,  and  returning  by  the  Hay- 
market  to  the  club,  was  madly  assaulted  by  a  woman 
at  the  corner  of  Panton  Street.  Very  unwisely  he 
resented  her  attack  by  giving  her  a  blow  with  his 
hand,  when  the  woman,  finding  by  his  accent  he  was 


LATER   RECORDS  319 

a  foreigner,  cried  for  help  against  the  cursed 
Frenchman,  when  there  was  at  once  a  gathering  of 
bullies,  who  jostled  and  beat  Baretti,  making  him 
"  apprehensive  that  he  must  expect  no  favour  nor 
protection,  but  all  outrage  and  blows."  There  was, 
generally,  a  great  puddle  at  the  corner  of  Panton 
Street,  even  when  the  weather  was  fine,  and  on  this 
particular  day  it  had  rained  incessantly,  and  the 
pavement  was  very  slippery.  Baretti's  assailants 
tried  hard  to  push  him  into  the  puddle,  and  at  last 
in  self-defence  he  drew  his  pocket-knife,  a  knife 
he  kept,  as  he  afterwards  declared,  to  carve  fruit 
and  sweetmeats,  and  not  to  kill  his  fellow  creatures 
with.  Being  hard  pushed,  "  in  great  horror,  having 
such  bad  eyes,"  lest  he  should  run  against  some,  and 
his  pursuers  constantly  at  him,  jostling  and  beat- 
ing him,  Baretti  "  made  a  quick  blow  "  at  one  who 
had  knocked  off  his  hat  with  his  fist ;  the  mob  cried, 
"  Murder,  he  has  a  knife  out,"  and  gave  way. 
Baretti  ran  up  Oxenden  Street,  then  faced  about 
and  ran  into  a  shop  for  protection,  being  quite 
spent  with  fatigue.  Three  men  followed  him;  one 
was  a  constable,  who  had  called  upon  Baretti  to  sur- 
render. Morgan,  the  man  whom  he  had  stabbed, 
three  times,  as  it  appeared,  "  the  third  wound  hav- 
ing hurt  him  more  than  the  two  former,"  was 
fast  bleeding  to  death.  Baretti  was  carried  before 
Sir  John  Fielding;  his  friends  came  from  the  club 
and  testified  to  his  character,  among  others  Sir 
Joshua   Reynolds  himself,  but  he  was   committed 


320  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

to  prison.  It  was  urged  in  Baretti's  defence  that  he 
had  been  very  severely  handled;  he  had  a  swollen 
cheek,  and  was  covered  with  bruises.  Independent 
witnesses  came  forward,  and  swore  that  they  had 
been  subjected  to  personal  outrage  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Haymarket.  A  number  of  per- 
sonal friends,  including  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  Doc- 
tor Johnson,  Mr.  Fitz-Herbert,  and  Mr.  Edmund 
Burke,  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  Mr.  Baretti 
as  a  "  man  of  benevolence,  sobriety,  modesty,  and 
learning."  In  the  end  he  was  acquitted  of  murder 
or  manslaughter,  and  the  jury  gave  a  verdict  of 
self-defence. 


CHAPTER  X 

HIGHWAYMEN     AND    PIRATES 

Chronic  dangers  and  riots  in  the  London  streets  —  Footmen's 
riot  at  Drury  Lane  —  James  Maclane,  a  notorious  knight 
of  the  road,  has  a  lodging  in  St.  James's  Street  —  Stops 
Horace  Walpole  —  Hanged  at  Maidstone  —  John  Rann, 
alias  Sixteen-string  Jack — Short  career  ends  on  the  gal- 
lows —  William  Parsons,  a  baronet's  son,  turns  swindler 
and  is  transported  to  Virginia  —  Jonathan  Wild,  the  sham 
thief-taker  and  notorious  criminal  —  Captain  Kidd  —  Eng- 
lish peers  accused  of  complicity — Kidd's  arrest,  trial,  and 
sentence  —  John  Gow  and  his  career  in  the  Revenge  —  His 
death  at  Execution  Dock. 

Inoffensive  persons  were  constantly  in  danger, 
day  and  night,  of  being  waylaid  and  maltreated  in 
the  streets.  Disturbance  was  chronic  in  certain 
localities,  and  a  trifling  quarrel  might  at  any 
moment  blaze  into  a  murderous  riot.  On  execu- 
tion days  the  mob  was  always  rampant;  at  times, 
too,  when  political  passion  was  at  fever-heat, 
crowds  of  roughs  were  ever  ready  to  espouse  the 
popular  cause.  Thus,  when  the  court  party,  headed 
by  Lord  Bute,  vainly  strove  to  crush  the  demagogue 
John  Wilkes,  and  certain  prisoners  were  being  tried 
at  the  Old  Bailey  for  riot  and  wounding,  a  crowd 

321 


322  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

collected  outside  the  Mansion  House  carrying  a 
gibbet  on  which  hung  a  boot  and  a  petticoat.  Tlie 
mayor  interfered  and  a  fray  began.  Weapons  were 
used,  some  of  the  lord  mayor's  servants  were 
wounded,  and  one  of  the  prisoners  was  rescued  by 
the  mob.  Sometimes  the  disturbance  had  its  origin 
in  trade  jealousies. 

An  especially  turbulent  class  were  the  footmen, 
chair-men,  and  body-servants  of  the  aristocracy. 
The  Footmen's  Riot  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  which 
occurred  in  1737,  was  a  serious  affair.  It  had  long 
been  the  custom  to  admit  the  parti-coloured  tribe, 
as  the  licensed  lackeys  are  called  in  contemporary 
accounts,  to  the  upper  gallery  of  that  theatre  gratis, 
out  of  compliment  to  their  masters  on  whom  they 
were  in  attendance.  Then,  when  established  among 
"  the  gods,"  they  comported  themselves  with  ex- 
traordinary license;  they  impudently  insulted  the 
rest  of  the  audience,  who,  unlike  themselves,  had 
paid  for  admission,  and  "  assuming  the  prerogative 
of  critics,  hissed  or  applauded  with  the  most  of- 
fensive clamour."  Finding  the  privilege  of  free 
entrance  thus  scandalously  abused,  Mr.  Fleetwood, 
the  manager,  suspended  the  free  list.  This  gave 
great  offence  to  the  footmen,  who  proceeded  to  take 
the  law  into  their  own  hands.  "  They  conceived," 
as  it  was  stated  in  Fog's  Weekly  Journal,  "  that 
they  had  an  indefeasible  hereditary  right  to  the  said 
gallery,  and  that  this  expulsion  was  a  high  infringe- 
ment of  their  liberties."    Accordingly,  one  Saturday 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        323 

night  a  great  number  of  them  —  quite  three  hun- 
dred, it  was  said  —  assembled  at  Drury  Lane  doors, 
armed  with  staves  and  truncheons,  and  "  well  forti- 
fied with  three-threads  and  two-penny."  ^  The 
night  selected  was  one  when  the  performance  was 
patronized  by  royalty,  and  the  Prince  and  Princess 
of  Wales,  with  other  members  of  the  royal  family, 
were  in  the  theatre.  The  rioters  attacked  the  stage 
door  and  forced  it  open,  "  bearing  down  all  the 
box-keepers,  candle-snuffers,  supernumeraries,  and 
pippin  women  that  stood  in  the  way."  In  this  on- 
slaught some  five  and  twenty  respectable  people 
were  desperately  wounded.  Fortunately  Colonel 
de  Veil,  an  active  Westminster  justice,  happened  to 
be  in  the  house,  and  at  once  interposed.  He 
ordered  the  Riot  Act  to  be  read,  but  "  so  great  was 
the  confusion,"  says  the  account,  "  that  they  might 
as  well  have  read  Caesar's  *  Commentaries.'  " 
Colonel  de  Veil  then  got  the  assistance  of  some  of 
the  guards,  and  with  them  seized  several  of  the 
principal  rioters,  whom  he  committed  to  New- 
gate. 

These  prisoners  were  looked  upon  as  martyrs  to 
the  great  cause,  and  while  In  gaol  were  liberally 
supplied  with  all  luxuries  by  the  subscription  of 
their  brethren.  They  were,  however,  brought  to 
trial,  convicted  of  riot,  and  sentenced  to  imprison- 
ment. This  did  not  quite  end  the  disturbance. 
Anonymous  letters  poured  into  the  theatre,  threaten- 

*Cant  names  of  the  period  for  drinks. 


324 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


ing  Fleetwood  and  vowing  vengeance.    The  follow- 
ing is  a  specimen : 

"  Sir  :  —  We  are  willing  to  admonish  you  before 
we  attempt  our  design;  and  provide  you  use  us 
civil  and  admit  us  into  your  gallery,  which  is  our 
property  according  to  formalities,  and  if  you  think 
proper  to  come  to  a  composition  this  way  you'll 
hear  no  further;  and  if  not,  our  intention  is  to 
combine  in  a  body,  incognito,  and  reduce  the  play- 
house to  the  ground.  Valuing  no  detection,  we 
are  Indemnified." 

The  manager  carried  these  letters  to  the  Lord 
Chamberlain  and  appealed  to  him  for  protection. 
A  detachment  of  the  guards,  fifty  strong,  was 
ordered  to  do  duty  at  the  theatre  nightly,  and 
"  thus  deterred  the  saucy  knaves  from  carrying 
their  threats  into  execution.  From  this  time,"  says 
the  "  Newgate  Calendar,"  "  the  gallery  has  been 
purged  of  such  vermin." 

The  footmen  and  male  servants  generally  of 
this  age  were  an  idle,  dissolute  race.  From  among 
them  the  ranks  of  the  highwaymen  were  com- 
monly recruited,  and  it  was  very  usual  for  the 
gentleman's  gentleman,  who  had  long  flaunted  in 
his  master's  apparel,  and  imitated  his  master's  vices, 
to  turn  gentleman  on  the  road  to  obtain  funds  for 
the  faro-table  and  riotous  living.  A  large  proportion 
of  the  most  famous  highwaymen  of  the  eighteenth 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES         325 

century  had  been  in  service  at  some  time  or  other. 
Hawkins,  James  Maclane,  John  Rann,  WilHam 
Page,  had  all  worn  the  livery  coat.  John  Hawkins 
had  been  butler  in  a  gentleman's  family,  but  lost 
his  place  when  the  plate  chest  was  robbed,  and 
suspicion  fell  upon  him  because  he  was  flush  of 
money.  Hawkins,  without  a  character,  was  unable 
to  get  a  fresh  place,  and  he  took  at  once  to  the  road. 
His  operations,  which  were  directed  chiefly  against 
persons  of  quality,  were  conducted  in  and  about 
London.  He  stopped  and  robbed  the  Earl  of 
Burlington,  Lord  Bruce,  and  the  Earl  of  Westmore- 
land, the  latter  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields.  When  he 
got  valuable  jewels  he  carried  them  over  tO'  Holland 
and  disposed  of  them  for  cash,  which  he  squandered 
at  once  in  a  "  hell,"  for  he  was  a  rash  and  inveterate 
gambler. 

Working  with  two  associates,  he  made  his  head- 
quarters at  a  public-house  in  the  London  Wall,  the 
master  of  which  kept  a  livery-stable,  and  shared 
in  the  booty.  From  this  point  they  rode  out  at  all 
hours  and  stopped  the  stages  as  they  came  into 
town  laden  with  'passengers.  One  of  the  gang 
was,  however,  captured  in  the  act  of  robbing  the 
mail  and  executed  at  Aylesbury.  After  this,  by  way 
of  revenge,  they  all  determined  to  turn  mail-rob- 
bers. They  first  designed  to  stop  the  Harwich  mail, 
but  changed  their  mind  as  its  arrival  was  uncer- 
tain, being  dependent  on  the  passage  of  the  packet- 
boat,  and  determined  to  rob  the  Bristol  mail  instead. 


326  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

They  overtook  the  boy  carrying  the  bags  near 
Slough,  and  made  him  go  down  a  lane  where  they 
tied  him  to  a  tree  in  a  wet  ditch,  ransacked  the 
Bath  and  Bristol  bags,  and  hurried  off  by  a 
circuitous  route  to  London,  where  they  divided  the 
spoil,  sharing  the  bank-notes  and  throwing  the  let- 
ters into  the  fire.  Soon  after  this,  the  post-office 
having  learned  that  the  public-house  in  the  London 
Wall  was  the  resort  of  highwaymen,  it  was  closely 
watched.  One  of  Hawkins's  gang  became  alarmed, 
and  was  on  the  point  of  bolting  to  Newcastle  when 
he  was  arrested.  He  was  hesitating  whether  or 
not  he  should  confess,  when  he  found  that  he  had 
been  forestalled  by  an  associate,  who  had  already 
given  information  to  the  post-office,  and  he  also 
made  a  clean  breast  of  it  all.  The  rest  of  the  gang 
were  taken  at  their  lodgings  in  the  Old  Bailey,  but 
not  without  a  fight,  and  committed  to  Newgate. 
Hawkins  tried  to  set  up  an  alibi,  and  an  innkeeper 
swore  that  he  lodged  with  him  at  Bedfordbury  on 
the  night  of  the  robbery;  but  the  jury  found  him 
guilty,  and  he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn,  his  body 
being  afterwards  hung  in  chains  on  Hounslow 
Heath. 

The  defence  of  an  alibi  was  very  frequently 
pleaded  by  highwaymen,  and  the  tradition  of  its 
utility  may  explain  why  that  veteran  and  astute 
coachman,  Mr.  Weller,  suggested  it  in  the  case  of 
"  Bardell  v.  Pickwick."  In  one  genuine  case,  how- 
ever, it  nearly  failed,  and  two  innocent  men  were 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        327 

all  but  sacrificed  to  mistaken  identity.  They  had 
been  arrested  for  having  robbed,  on  the  Uxbridge 
road,  a  learned  sergeant-at-law,  Sir  Thomas  Daven- 
port, who  swore  positively  to  both.  His  evidence 
was  corroborated  by  that  of  Lady  Davenport,  and 
by  the  coachman  and  footman.  Also  the  horses 
ridden  by  the  supposed  highwaymen,  one  a  brown 
and  the  other  a  gray,  were  produced  in  the  Old 
Bailey  courtyard,  and  sworn  to.  Yet  it  was  satis- 
factorily proved  that  both  the  prisoners  were  re- 
spectable residents  of  Kentish  town;  that  one,  at 
the  exact  time  of  the  robbery,  was  seated  at  table 
dining  at  some  club  anniversary  dinner,  and  never 
left  the  club-room;  that  the  other  was  employed 
continuously  in  the  bar  of  a  public-house  kept  by 
his  mother.  It  was  proved  too  that  the  prisoners 
owned  a  brown  and  a  gray  horse  respectively.  The 
judge  summed  up  in  the  prisoners'  favour,  and  they 
were  acquitted.  But  both  suffered  severe  mental 
trouble  from  the  unjust  accusation.  A  few  years 
later  the  actual  robbers  were  convicted  of  another 
ofifence,  and  in  the  cells  of  Newgate  confessed  that 
it  was  they  who  had  stopped  Sir  Thomas  Daven- 
port. 

A:  very  notorious  highwayman,  who  had  also 
been  in  service  at  one  time  of  his  varied  career,  was 
James  Maclane.  He  was  the  son  of  a  dissenting 
minister  in  Monaghan,  and  had  a  brother  a  minister 
at  The  Hague.  Maclane  inherited  a  small  fortune, 
which  he  speedily  dissipated,   after  which   he  be- 


328  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

came  a  gentleman's  butler,  lost  his  situation  through 
dishonesty,  determined  to  enlist  in  the  Horse 
Guards,  abandoned  the  idea,  and  turned  fortune- 
hunter.  He  was  a  vain  man,  of  handsome  exterior, 
which  he  decked  out  in  smart  clothes  on  borrowed 
money.  He  succeeded  at  length  in  winning  the 
daughter  of  a  respectable  London  horse-dealer, 
and  with  her  dowry  of  £500  set  up  in  business  as 
a  grocer.  His  wife  dying  early,  he  at  once  turned 
his  stock  in  trade  into  cash,  and  again  looked  to 
win  an  heiress,  "  by  the  gracefulness  of  his  person 
and  the  elegance  of  his  appearance."  He  was  at 
last  reduced  to  his  last  shilling,  and  being  quite 
despondent,  an  Irish  apothecary,  who  was  a  daring 
robber,  persuaded  him  to  take  to  the  highway.  One 
of  his  earliest  exploits  was  to  stop  Horace  Walpole 
when  the  latter  was  passing  through  Hyde  Park. 
A  pistol  went  off  accidentally  in  this  encounter,  and 
the  bullet  not  only  grazed  Walpole's  cheek-bone,  but 
went  through  the  roof  of  the  carriage.  At  this 
time  Maclane  had  a  lodging  in  St.  James's  Street, 
for  which  he  paid  two  guineas  a  week;  his  accom- 
plice Plunkett  lived  in  Jermyn  Street.  "  Their 
faces,"  says  Horace  Walpole,  "  are  as  well  known 
about  St.  James's  as  any  gentleman's  who  lives 
in  that  quarter,  and  who  perhaps  goes  upon  the 
road  too." 

Maclane  accounted  for  his  style  of  living  by  put- 
ting out  that  he  had  Irish  property  worth  £700  a 
year.     Once  when  he  had  narrowly  escaped  capture 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        329 

he  went  over  to  his  brother  in  Holland  for  safety, 
and  when  the  danger  was  passed  he  returned  and 
recommenced  his  depredations.  He  made  so  good 
a  show  that  he  was  often  received  into  respectable 
houses,  and  was  once  near  marrying  a  young  lady 
of  good  position ;  but  he  was  recognized  and  ex- 
posed by  a  gentleman  who  knew  him.  Maclane 
continued  to  rob,  with  still  greater  boldness,  till 
the  26th  June,  1750.  On  this  day  he  and  Plunkett 
robbed  the  Earl  of  Eglinton  on  Hounslow  Heath, 
Later  in  the  day  they  stopped  and  rifled  the  Salis- 
bury stage,  and  among  the  booty  carried  off  two 
portmanteaus,  which  were  conveyed  to  Maclane's 
lodgings  in  St.  James's.  Information  of  this  rob- 
bery was  quickly  circulated,  with  a  description  of 
the  stolen  goods.  Maclane  had  stripped  the  lace 
off  a  waistcoat,  the  property  of  one  of  his  victims, 
and  recklessly  offered  it  for  sale  to  the  very  lace- 
man  from  whom  it  had  been  purchased.  He  also 
sent  for  another  salesman,  who  immediately 
recognized  the  clothes  offered  as  those  which  had 
been  stolen,  and  pretending  to  go  home  for  more 
money,  he  fetched  a  constable  and  apprehended 
Maclane.  He  made  an  elaborate  defence  when 
brought  to  trial,  but  it  availed  him  little,  and  he 
was  sentenced  to  death.  While  under  condemna- 
tion he  became  quite  a  popular  hero.  "  The  first 
Sunday  after  his  trial,"  says  Horace  Walpole, 
"  three  thousand  people  went  to  see  him.  He 
fainted  away  twice  with  the  heat  of  his  cell.     You 


330 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


can't  conceive  the  ridiculous  rage  there  is  for  going 
to  Newgate;  and  the  prints  that  are  pubHshed  of 
the  malefactors,  and  the  memoirs  of  their  lives,  set 
forth  with  as  much  parade  as  Marshal  Turenne's." 
Maclane  suffered  at  Tyburn  amidst  a  great  con- 
course. 

William  Page  did  a  better  business  as  a  high- 
wayman than  Maclane.  Page  was  apprenticed  to 
a  haberdasher,  but  he  was  a  consummate  coxcomb, 
who  neglected  his  shop  to  dress  in  the  fashion  and 
frequent  public  places.  His  relations  turned  him 
adrift,  and  when  in  the  last  stage  of  distress  he 
accepted  a  footman's  place.  It  was  while  in  livery 
that  he  first  heard  of  what  highwaymen  could  do, 
and  conceived  the  idea  of  adopting  the  road  as  a 
profession.  His  first  exploits  were  on  the  Kentish 
road,  when  he  stopped  the  Canterbury  stage;  his 
next  near  Hampton  Court.  When  he  had  collected 
some  £200  he  took  lodgings  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields 
and  passed  as  a  student  of  law.  He  learnt  to  dance, 
frequented  assemblies,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
marrying  well,  when  he  was  recognized  as  a  dis- 
charged footman,  and  turned  out-of-doors.  He 
continued  his  depredations  all  this  time,  assisted  by 
a  curious  map  which  he  had  himself  drawn,  giving 
the  roads  round  London  for  twenty  miles.  His 
plan  was  to  drive  out  in  a  phaeton  and  pair.  When 
at  a  distance  from  town  he  would  turn  into  some 
unfrequented  place  and  disguise  himself  with  a 
grizzle  or  black  wig  and  put  on  other  clothes.    Then 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        331 

saddling  one  of  his  phaeton  horses,  he  went  on  to 
the  main  road  and  committed  a  robbery.  This 
effected,  he  galloped  back  to  his  carriage,  resumed 
his  former  dress,  and  drove  to  London.  He  was 
often  cautioned  against  himself;  but  laughingly- 
said  that  he  had  already  lost  his  money  once  and 
could  now  only  lose  his  coat  and  shirt.  He  was 
nearly  detected  on  one  occasion,  when  some  hay- 
makers discovered  his  empty  phaeton  and  drove  it 
off  with  his  best  clothes.  He  had  just  stopped  some 
people,  who  pursued  the  haymakers  with  the  car- 
riage and  accused  them  of  being  accomplices  in  the 
robbery.  Page  heard  of  this,  and  throwing  the 
disguise  into  a  well,  went  back  to  town  nearly 
naked,  where  he  claimed  the  carriage,  saying  the 
men  had  stripped  him  and  thrown  him  into  a  ditch. 
The  coach-builder  swore  that  he  had  sold  him  the 
carriage,  and  they  were  committed  for  trial,  but 
Page  did  not  appear  to  prosecute.  Page  after  this 
extended  his  operations,  and  in  company  with  one 
Darwell,  an  old  schoolfellow,  committed  more  than 
three  hundred  robberies  in  three  years.  He  fre- 
quented Bath,  Tunbridge,  Newmarket,  and  Scarbro*, 
playing  deep  everywhere  and  passing  for  a  man  of 
fortune.  Darwell  and  he  next  "  worked  "  the  roads 
around  London,  but  while  the  former  was  near 
Sevenoaks  he  was  captured  by  Justice  Fielding. 
He  turned  evidence  against  Page,  who  was  ar- 
rested in  consequence  at  the  Golden  Lion  near 
Hyde   Park,   with  a   wig  to  disguise  him   in  one 


332 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


pocket  and  his  map  of  the  London  roads  in  another. 
He  was  remanded  to  Newgate  and  tried  for  a  rob- 
bery, of  which  he  was  acquitted;  then  removed  to 
Maidstone  and  convicted  of  another,  for  which  he 
was  hanged  at  that  place  in  1758. 

John  Rann  was  first  a  helper,  then  postboy,  then 
coachman  to  several  gentlemen  of  position.  While 
in  this  capacity  he  dressed  in  a  peculiar  fashion, 
wearing  breeches  with  eight  strings  at  each  knee, 
and  was  hence  nicknamed  Sixteen-string  Jack. 
Having  lost  his  character  he  turned  pickpocket,  and 
then  took  to  the  road.  He  was  soon  afterwards 
arrested  for  robbing  a  gentleman  of  a  watch  and 
some  money  on  the  Hounslow  road.  The  watch 
was  traced  to  a  woman  with  whom  Rann  kept 
company,  who  owned  that  she  had  had  it  from 
him.  Rann  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  transac- 
tion, which  could  not  be  brought  home  to  him. 
He  appeared  in  court  on  this  occasion  in  an  ex- 
travagant costume.  His  irons  were  tied  up  with 
blue  ribbons,  and  he  carried  in  his  breast  a  bouquet 
of  flowers  "  as  big  as  a  broom."  He  was  fond  of 
fine  feathers.  Soon  afterwards  he  appeared  at  a 
public-house  in  Bagnigge  Wells,  dressed  in  a  scarlet 
coat,  tambour  waistcoat,  white  silk  stockings,  and 
laced  hat.  He  gave  himself  out  quite  openly  as  a 
highwayman,  and  getting  drunk  and  troublesome, 
he  was  put  out  of  the  house  through  a  window  into 
the  road.  Later  on  he  appeared  at  Barnet  races 
in  elegant  sporting  style,  his  waistcoat  being  blue 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND   PIRATES 


333 


satin  trimmed  with  silver.  On  this  occasion  he  was 
followed  by  hundreds  who  knew  him,  and  wished 
to  stare  at  a  man  who  had  made  himself  so  notori- 
ous. At  last  he  stopped  Dr.  Bell,  chaplain  to 
the  Princess  Amelia,  in  the  Uxbridge  Road,  and 
robbed  him  of  eighteen  pence  and  a  common  watch 
in  a  tortoise-shell  case;  the  latter  was  traced  to  the 
same  woman  already  mentioned,  and  Rann  was  ar- 
rested coming  into  her  house.  Dr.  Bell  swore  to 
him,  and  his  servant  declared  that  he  had  seen  Rann 
riding  up  Acton  Hill  twenty  minutes  before  the 
robbery.  Rann  was  convicted  on  this  evidence  and 
suffered  at  Tyburn,  in  1774,  after  a  short  career 
of  four  years.  It  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  seen 
the  gallows.  A  short  time  previously  he  had  at- 
tended a  public  execution,  and  forcing  his  way  into 
the  ring  kept  by  the  constables,  begged  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  stand  there,  as  he  might  some 
day  be  an  actor  in  the  scene  instead  of  a  spectator. 
The  road  was  usually  the  last  resource  of  the 
criminally  inclined,  the  last  fatal  step  in  the  down- 
ward career  which  ended  abruptly  at  the  gallows. 
Dissolute  and  depraved  youths  of  all  classes,  often 
enough  gentlemen,  undoubtedly  well-born,  adopted 
this  dangerous  profession  when  at  their  wit's  ends 
for  funds.  William  Butler,  who  did  his  work  ac- 
companied by  his  servant  Jack,  was  the  son  of  a 
military  officer.  Kent  and  Essex  was  his  favourite 
line  of  country,  but  London  was  his  headquarters, 
where  they  lived  in  the  "  genteelest  lodgings,  Jack 


334 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


wearing  a  livery,  and  the  squire  dressed  in  the  most 
elegant  manner." 

A  baronet,  Sir  Simon  Clarke,  was  convicted  of 
highway  robbery  at  Winchester  assizes,  with  an 
associate.  Lieutenant  Robert  Arnott;  although  the 
former,  by  the  strenuous  exertions  of  his  country 
friends,  escaped  the  death  penalty  to  which  he  had 
been  sentenced.  A  very  notorious  highwayman  ex- 
ecuted in  1750  was  William  Parson,  the  son  of  a 
baronet,  who  had  been  at  Eton,  and  bore  a  com- 
mission in  the  Royal  Navy.  He  had  hopes  of  an 
inheritance  from  the  Duchess  of  Northumberland, 
who  was  a  near  relative,  but  her  Grace  altered  her 
will  in  favour  of  his  sister.  He  left  the  navy  in 
a  hurry,  and,  abandoned  by  his  friends,  became 
quite  destitute,  w^hen  his  father  got  him  an  appoint- 
ment in  the  Royal  African  Company's  service.  But 
he  soon  quarrelled  with  the  governor  of  Fort  James 
on  the  Gambia,  and  returned  to  England  again  so 
destitute  that  he  lived  on  three  halfpence  for  four 
days  and  drank  water  from  the  street  pumps.  His 
father  now  told  him  to  enlist  in  the  Life  Guards, 
but  the  necessary  purchase-money,  seventy  guineas, 
was  not  forthcoming.  He  then,  by  personating  a 
brother,  obtained  an  advance  on  a  legacy  which  an 
aunt  had  left  the  brother,  and  with  these  funds 
made  so  good  a  show  that  he  managed  to  marry  a 
young  lady  of  independent  fortune,  whose  father 
was  dead  and  had  bequeathed  her  a  handsome  es- 
tate.    His  friends  were  so  delighted  that  they  ob- 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        335 

tained  him  a  commission  as  ensign  in  a  marching 
regiment,  the  34th.  He  immediately  launched  out 
into  extravagant  expenditure,  took  a  house  in 
Poland  Street,  kept  three  saddle-horses,  a  chaise 
and  pair,  and  a  retinue  of  servants.  He  also  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  noted  gambler  and  sharper,  who 
induced  him  to  play  high,  and  fleeced  him.  Par- 
sons was  compelled  to  sell  his  commission  to  meet 
his  liabilities,  and  still  had  to  evade  his  creditors 
by  hiding  under  a  false  name. 

From  this  time  he  became  an  irreclaimable  vaga- 
bond, put  to  all  sorts  of  shifts,  and  adroit  in  all 
kinds  of  swindles,  to  raise  means.  Having  starved 
for  some  time,  he  shipped  as  captain  of  marines 
on  board  a  galley-privateer.  He  returned  and  lived 
by  forgery  and  fraud.  One  counterfeit  draft  he 
drew  was  on  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  for  £500; 
another  on  Sir  Joseph  Hankey  &  Co.  He  de- 
frauded tailors  out  of  new  uniforms,  and  a  hatter 
of  160  hats,  which  he  pretended  he  had  contracted 
to  supply  to  his  regiment.  He  also  robbed  a  jew- 
eller, by  a  pretended  marriage,  of  a  wedding  and 
several  valuable  diamond  rings.  In  the  '45  he  bor- 
rowed a  horse  from  an  officer  intending  to  join  the 
rebels,  but  he  only  rode  as  far  as  Smithfield,  where 
he  sold  the  nag,  and  let  the  officer  be  arrested  as  a 
supposed  traitor.  He  was  arrested  for  obtaining 
money  on  a  false  draft  at  Ranelagh,  tried  at  Maid- 
stone, sentenced  to  transportation,  and  despatched 
to  Virginia.     There,  "  after  working  as  a  common 


336  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

slave  about  seven  weeks,"  a  certain  Lord  F.  rescued 
him  and  took  him  as  a  guest  into  his  house.  Par- 
sons robbed  Lord  F.  of  a  horse  and  took  the  high- 
way. With  the  proceeds  of  his  first  robbery  he  got 
a  passage  back  to  England.  On  arriving  at  White- 
haven, he  represented  himself  as  having  come  into  a 
large  estate,  and  a  banker  advanced  him  seventy 
pounds.  With  this  he  came  on  to  London,  took 
lodgings  in  the  West  End,  near  Hyde  Park  corner, 
and  rapidly  got  through  his  cash.  Then  he  hired 
a  horse  and  rode  out  on  to  Hounslow  Heath  to 
stop  the  first  person  he  met. 

This  became  his  favourite  hunting-ground,  al- 
though he  did  business  also  about  Kensington  and 
Tumham  Green.  Once  having  learnt  that  a  footman 
was  to  join  his  master  at  Windsor  with  a  portman- 
teau full  of  notes  and  money,  he  rode  out  to  rob 
him,  but  was  recognized  by  an  old  victim.  The 
latter  let  him  enter  the  town  of  Hounslow,  then 
ordered  him  to  surrender.  He  might  still  have 
escaped,  but  the  landlord  of  the  inn  where  he  lodged 
thought  he  answered  the  description  of  a  highway- 
man who  had  long  infested  the  neighbourhood. 
Parsons  was  accordingly  detained  and  removed  to 
Newgate.  He  was  easily  identified,  and  his  con- 
demnation for  returning  from  transportation  fol- 
lowed as  a  matter  of  course.  His  father  and  his 
wife  used  all  their  interest  to  gain  him  a  pardon, 
but  he  was  deemed  too  old  an  offender  to  be  a  fit 
object  for  mercy. 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        337 

Paul  Lewis  was  another  reprobate,  who  began 
life  as  a  king's  officer.  He  was  the  son  of  a  country 
clergyman,  who  got  him  a  commission  in  the  train 
of  artillery;  but  Lewis  ran  into  debt,  deserted  from 
his  corps,  and  took  to  the  sea.  He  entered  the  Royal 
Navy,  and  rose  to  be  first  midshipman,  then  lieu- 
tenant. Although  courageous  in  action,  he  was 
"wicked  and  base;"  and  while  on  board  the  fleet 
he  collected  three  guineas  apiece  from  his  mess- 
mates to  lay  in  stores  for  the  West  Indian  voyages, 
and  bolted  with  the  money.  He  at  once  took  to  the 
road.  His  first  affair  was  near  Newington  Butts, 
when  he  robbed  a  gentleman  in  a  chaise.  He  was 
apprehended  for  this  offence,  but  escaped  conviction 
through  an  alibi ;  after  this  he  committed  a  variety 
of  robberies.  He  was  captured  by  a  police  officer 
on  a  night  that  he  had  first  stopped  a  lady  and  gen- 
tleman in  a  chaise,  and  then  tried  to  rob  a  Mr. 
Brown,  at  whom  he  fired.  Mr.  Brown's  horse  took 
fright  and  threw  him;  but  when  he  got  to  his  feet 
he  found  his  assailant  pinned  to  the  ground  by  Mr. 
Pope,  the  police  officer,  who  was  kneeling  on  his 
breast.  It  seemed  the  lady  and  gentleman,  Lewis's 
first  victims,  had  warned  Pope  that  a  highwayman 
was  about,  and  the  police  officer  had  ridden  forward 
quickly  and  seized  Lewis  at  the  critical  moment. 
Lewis  was  conveyed  to  Newgate,  and  in  due  course 
sentenced  to  death.  "  Such  was  the  baseness  and 
unfeeling  profligacy  of  this  wretch,"  says  the  New- 
gate Calendar,  "  that  when  his  almost  heart-broken 


'^ 


338  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

father  visited  him  for  the  last  time  in  Newgate,  and 
put  twelve  guineas  into  his  hand  to  repay  his  ex- 
penses, he  slipped  one  of  the  pieces  of  gold  into  the 
cuff  of  his  sleeve  by  a  dexterous  sleight,  and  then 
opening  his  hand,  showed  the  venerable  and  rever- 
end old  man  that  there  were  but  eleven;  upon 
which  his  father  took  another  from  his  pocket  and 
gave  it  him  to  make  the  number  intended.  Having 
then  taken  a  last  farewell  of  his  parent,  Lewis 
turned  round  to  his  fellow  prisoners,  and  exultingly 
exclaimed,  '  I  have  flung  the  old  fellow  out  of  an- 
other guinea.'  " 

Pope's  capture  of  the  highwayman  Lewis  was 
outdone  by  that  of  William  Belchier,  a  few  years 
previous,  by  William  Norton,  a  person  who,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  account  of  himself,  kept  a  shop  in 
Wych  Street,  and  who  "  sometimes  took  a  thief." 
Norton  at  the  trial  told  his  story  as  follows.  "  The 
chaise  to  Devizes  having  been  robbed  two  or  three 
times,  as  I  was  informed,  I  was  desired  to  go  into 
it,  to  see  if  I  could  take  the  thief,  which  T  did  on 
the  third  of  June,  about  half  an  hour  after  one  in 
the  morning.  I  got  into  the  post-chaise;  the  post- 
boy told  me  the  place  where  he  had  been  stopped 
was  near  the  half-way  house  between  Knightsbridge 
and  Kensington.  As  we  came  near  the  house  the 
prisoner  (Belchier)  came  to  us  on  foot  and  said, 
'  Driver,  stop.'  He  held  a  pistol  and  tinder-box  to 
the  chaise,  and  said :  '  Your  money  directly,  you 
must  not  stop;    this  minute,  your  money.'     I  said. 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES 


339 


'  Don't  frighten  us,  I  have  but  a  trifle  —  you  shall 
have  it.'  Then  I  said  to  the  gentlemen,  —  there 
were  three  in  the  chaise,  —  '  Give  your  money.'  I 
took  out  a  pistol  from  my  coat  pocket,  and  from  my 
breeches  pocket  a  five-shilling  piece  and  a  dollar. 
I  held  the  pistol  concealed  in  one  hand  and  the 
money  in  the  other.  I  held  the  money  pretty  hard. 
He  said,  '  Put  it  in  my  hat.'  I  let  him  take  the 
five-shilling  piece  out  of  my  hand.  As  soon  as  he 
had  taken  it  I  snapped  my  pistol  at  him.  It  did  not 
go  off.  He  staggered  back  and  held  up  his  hands, 
and  said,  '  Oh,  Lord !  oh,  Lord ! '  I  jumped  out  of 
the  chaise;  he  ran  away,  and  I  after  him  about 
six  or  seven  hundred  yards,  and  then  took  him. 
I  hit  him  a  blow  on  his  back ;  he  begged  for  mercy 
on  his  knees.  I  took  his  neckcloth  off  and  tied  his 
hands  with  it,  and  brought  him  back  to  the  chaise. 
Then  I  told  the  gentlemen  in  the  chaise  that  was 
the  errand  I  came  upon,  and  wished  them  a  good 
journey,  and  brought  the  prisoner  to  London." 

No  account  of  the  thief-taking  or  of  the  crim- 
inality of  the  eighteenth  century  would  be  com- 
plete without  some  reference  to  Jonathan  Wild. 
What  this  astute  villain  really  was  may  be  best 
gathered  from  the  various  sworn  informations  on 
which  he  was  indicted.  It  was  set  forth  that  he 
had  been  for  years  the  confederate  of  highwaymen, 
pickpockets,  burglars,  shoplifters,  and  other  thieves; 
that  he  had  formed  a  kind  of  corporation  of  thieves 
of  which  he  was  head,  or  director,  and  that,  despite 


340 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


his  pretended  efforts  at  detection,  he  procured  none 
to  be  hanged  but  those  who  concealed  their  booty 
or  refused  him  his  share.  It  was  said  that  he  had 
divided  the  town  and  country  into  districts,  and 
had  appointed  distinct  gangs  to  each,  who  accounted 
to  him  for  their  robberies ;  that  he  employed  an- 
other set  to  rob  in  churches  during  divine  service, 
and  other  "  moving  detachments  to  attend  at  court 
on  birthdays  and  balls,  and  at  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment." His  chosen  agents  were  returned  trans- 
ports, who  lay  quite  at  his  mercy.  They  could  not 
be  evidence  against  him,  and  if  they  displeased  him 
he  could  at  any  time  have  them  hanged.  These 
felons  he  generally  lodged  in  a  house  of  his  own, 
where  he  fed  and  clothed  them,  and  used  them  in 
clipping  guineas  or  counterfeiting  coin.  Wild  at  last 
had  the  audacity  to  occupy^  house  in  the  Old  Bailey, 
opposite  the  present  Sessions  House.  He  him- 
self had  been  a  confederate  in  numerous  robberies; 
in  all  cases  he  was  a  receiver  of  the  goods  stolen ; 
he  had  under  his  care  several  warehouses  for  con- 
cealing the  same,  and  owned  a  vessel  for  carrying 
off  jewels,  watches,  and  other  valuables  to  Holland, 
where  he  had  a  superannuated  thief  for  a  factor. 
He  also  kept  in  his  pay  several  artists  to  make  al- 
terations and  transform  watches,  seals,  snuff-boxes, 
rings,  so  that  they  might  not  be  recognized,  which 
he  used  to  present  to  people  who  could  be  of  sendee 
to  him.  It  was  alleged  that  he  generally  claimed 
as  much  as  half  the  value  of  all  articles  which  he 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        341 

pretended  to  recover,  and  that  he  never  gave  up 
bank-notes  or  paper  unless  the  loser  could  exactly 
specify  them.  "  In  order  to  carry  out  these  vile 
practices,  and  to  gain  some  credit  with  the  ignorant 
multitude,  he  usually  carried  a  short  silver  staff  as 
a  badge  of  authority  from  the  government,  which 
he  used  to  produce  when  he  himself  was  concerned 
in  robbing."  Last  of  all  he  was  charged  with  sell- 
ing human  blood;  in  other  words,  of  procuring 
false  evidence  to  convict  innocent  persons;  some- 
times to  prevent  them  from  giving  evidence  against 
himself,  and  at  other  times  for  the  sake  of  the  great 
reward  offered  by  the  government. 

Wild's  career  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  conclu- 
sion by  the  revelations  made  by  two  of  his  creatures. 
He  absconded,  but  was  pursued,  captured,  and  com- 
mitted to  Newgate.  He  was  tried  on  several  in- 
dictments, but  convicted  on  that  of  having  main- 
tained a  secret  correspondence  with  felons,  receiv- 
ing money  for  restoring  stolen  goods,  and  dividing 
it  with  the  thieves  whom  he  did  not  prosecute. 
While  under  sentence  of  death  he  made  desperate 
attempts  to  obtain  a  pardon,  but  in  vain,  and  at  last 
tried  to  evade  the  gallows  by  taking  a  large  dose  of 
laudanum.  This  also  failed,  and  he  was  conveyed 
to  Tyburn  amidst  the  execrations  of  a  countless  mob 
of  people,  who  pelted  him  with  stones  and  dirt  all  the 
way.  Among  other  curious  facts  concerning  this 
arch-villain,  it  is  recorded  that  when  at  the  acme 
of  his  prosperity,  Jonathan  Wild  was  ambitious  of 


342 


CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 


becoming  a  freeman  of  the  city  of  London.  His 
petition  to  this  effect  is  contained  among  the 
records  of  the  town  clerk's  office,  and  sets  forth 
that  the  petitioner  "  has  been  at  great  trouble  and 
charge  in  apprehending  and  convicting  divers  felons 
for  returning  from  transportation  from  Oct.  1720 
.  .  .  that  your  petitioner  has  never  received  any 
reward  or  gratuity  for  such  his  service,  that  he  is 
very  desirous  of  becoming  a  freeman  of  this  hon- 
ourable city.  .  .  ."  The  names  follow,  and  include 
Moll  King,  John  Jones,  etc.,  "  who  were  notorious 
street  robbers."  The  petition  is  endorsed  as  "  read 
Jan.  2d,  1724,"  but  the  result  is  not  stated. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  must  refer  briefly 
to  another  class  of  highway  robbers  —  the  pirates 
and  rovers  who  ranged  the  high  seas  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  There  were  some- 
times as  many  as  sixty  or  seventy  pirates  at  a  time 
awaiting  trial  in  Newgate,  about  this  period.  In 
those  days  there  was  no  efficient  ocean  police,  no 
perpetual  patrolling  by  war-ships  of  all  nations 
to  prevent  and  put  down  piracy  as  a  crime  noxious 
to  all.  Later,  on  the  ascendency  of  the  British 
navy,  this  duty  was  more  or  less  its  peculiar 
province ;  but  till  then  every  sea  was  infested 
with  pirates  sailing  under  various  flags.  The 
growth  of  piracy  has  been  attributed,  no  doubt 
with  reason,  to  the  narrow  policy  of  Spain 
with  regard  to  her  transatlantic  colonies.  To  baffle 
this  colonial  system  the  European  powers  long  tol- 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        343 

erated,  even  encouraged  these  reckless  filibusters, 
who  did  not  confine  their  ravages  to  the  Spanish- 
American  coast,  but  turned  their  hands,  like  nau- 
tical Ishmaels,  against  all  the  world.  The  mischief 
thus  done  was  incalculable.  About  1720,  one 
notorious  rover.  Captain  Roberts,  took  four  hun- 
dred sail.  They  were  as  clever  in  obtaining  in- 
formation as  to  the  movements  of  rich  prizes  on 
the  seas  as  were  highwaymen  concerning  the  traffic 
along  the  highroads.  They  were  particularly  cun- 
ning in  avoiding  war-ships,  and  knew  exactly  where 
to  run  for  supplies.  As  Captain  Johnson  tells  us, 
speaking  of  the  West  Indies  in  the  opening  pages 
of  his  '*  History  of  Pirates,"  "  they  have  been  so 
formidable  and  numerous  that  they  have  inter- 
rupted the  trade  of  Europe  in  those  parts ;  and  our 
English  merchants  in  particular  have  suffered  more 
by  their  depredations  than  by  the  united  force  of 
France  and  Spain  in  the  late  war." 

Pirates  were  the  curse  of  the  North  American 
waters  when  Lord  Bellamont  went  as  Governor 
of  New  England  in  1695,  and  no  one  was  supposed 
to  be  more  in  their  secrets  at  that  time,  or  more 
conversant  with  their  haunts  and  hiding-place,  than 
a  certain  Captain  John  Kidd,  of  New  York,  who 
owned  a  small  vessel,  and  traded  with  the  West 
Indies.  Lord  Bellamont's  instructions  were  to  put 
down  piracy  if  he  could,  and  Kidd  was  recom- 
mended to  him  as  a  fitting  person  to  employ.  For 
some   reason   or   other    Kidd    was    denied   official 


344  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

status;  but  it  was  pointed  out  to  Lord  Bellamont 
that,  as  the  affair  would  not  well  admit  delay,  "  it 
was  worthy  of  being  undertaken  by  some  private 
persons  of  rank  and  distinction,  and  carried  into 
execution  at  their  own  expense,  notwithstanding 
public  encouragement  was  denied  to  it."  Eventually 
the  Lord  Chancellor,  Lord  Somers,  the  Duke  of 
Shrewsbury,  the  Earl  of  Romney,  the  Earl  of  Ox- 
ford, with  some  others,  subscribed  a  sum  of  £6,000 
to  fit  out  an  expedition  from  England,  of  which 
Kidd  was  to  have  the  command;  and  he  was 
granted  a  commission  by  letters  patent  under  the 
great  seal  to  take  and  seize  pirates,  and  bring  them 
to  justice.  The  profits  of  the  adventure,  less  a  fifth, 
which  went  to  Kidd  and  another,  were  to  be  pock- 
eted by  the  promoters  of  the  enterprise,  and  this 
led  subsequently  to  a  charge  of  complicity  with  the 
pirates,  which  proved  very  awkward,  especially  for 
Lords  Orford  and  Somers. 

Kidd  sailed  for  New  York  in  the  Adventure 
galley,  and  soon  hoisted  the  black  flag.  From  New 
York  he  steered  for  Madeira,  thence  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  on  to  Madagascar.  He  cap- 
tured all  that  came  in  his  way.  French  ships, 
Portuguese,  "  Moorish,"  even  English  ships  en- 
gaged in  legitimate  and  peaceful  trade.  Kidd 
shifted  his  flag  to  one  of  his  prizes,  and  in  her 
returned  to  the  Spanish  main  for  supplies.  Thence 
he  sailed  for  various  ports  of  the  West  Indies,  and 
having  disposed  of  much  of  his  booty,  steered  for 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        345 

Boston.  He  had  been  preceded  there  by  a  mer- 
chant who  knew  of  his  piratical  proceedings,  and 
gave  information  to  Lord  Bellamont.  Kidd  was  ac- 
cordingly arrested  on  his  arrival  in  New  England. 
A  full  report  was  sent  home,  and  a  man-of-war, 
the  Rochester,  despatched  to  bring  Kidd  to  England 
for  trial.  As  the  Rochester  became  disabled,  and 
Kidd's  arrival  was  delayed,  very  great  public 
clamour  arose,  caused  and  fed  by  political  preju- 
dices against  Lord  Bellamont  and  the  other  great 
lords,  who  were  accused  of  an  attempt  to  shield 
Kidd.  It  was  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons 
that  the  "  letters  patent  granted  to  the  Earl  of 
Bellamont  and  others  respecting  the  goods  taken 
from  pirates  were  dishonourable  to  the  king, 
against  the  law  of  nations,  contrary  to  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  realm,  an  invasion  of  property, 
and  destructive  to  commerce."  The  motion  was 
opposed,  but  the  political  opponents  of  Lord  Somers 
and  Lord  Orford  continued  to  accuse  them  of  giv- 
ing countenance  to  pirates,  while  Lord  Bellamont 
was  deemed  no  less  culpable.  The  East  India  Com- 
pany, which  had  suffered  greatly  by  Kidd's  depre- 
dations, and  which  had  been  refused  letters  of 
marque  to  suppress  piracy  in  the  Indian  Ocean, 
joined  in  the  clamour,  and  petitioned  that  Captain 
Kidd  "  might  be  brought  to  speedy  trial,  and  that 
the  effects  taken  unjustly  from  the  subjects  of  the 
Great  Mogul  may  be  returned  to  them  as  a  satis- 
faction for  their  losses." 


346  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

It  was  ruled  at  last  that  Kidd  should  be  ex- 
amined at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  with 
the  idea  of  "  fixing  part  of  his  guilt  on  the  parties 
who  had  been  concerned  in  sending  him  on  his 
expedition."  Kidd  was  accordingly  brought  to 
England  and  lodged  first  in  the  Marshalsea,  the 
prison  of  the  Admiralty  Court,  and  afterward  com- 
mitted to  Newgate.  It  was  rumoured  that  Lord 
Halifax,  who  shared  the  political  odium  of  Lord 
Somers  and  Orford,  had  sent  privately  for  Kidd 
from  Newgate  to  tamper  with  him,  but  "  the  keeper 
of  the  gaol  on  being  sent  for  averred  that  it  was 
false."  It  is  more  probable  that  the  other  side  en- 
deavoured to  get  Kidd  to  bear  witness  against  Lord 
Somers  and  the  rest ;  but  at  the  bar  of  the  House, 
where  he  made  a  very  contemptible  appearance,  be- 
ing in  some  degree  intoxicated,  Kidd  fully  exon- 
erated them.  "  Kidd  discovered  little  or  nothing," 
says  Luttrell.  In  their  subsequent  impeachment 
they  were,  notwithstanding,  charged  wath  having 
been  Kidd's  accomplices,  but  the  accusation  broke 
down. 

Kidd  in  the  meantime  had  been  left  to  his  fate. 
He  was  tried  with  his  crew  on  several  indictments 
for  murder  and  piracy  at  the  Admiralty  Sessions  of 
the  Old  Bailey,  and  hung  in  170 1.  He  must  have 
prospered  greatly  in  his  short  and  infamous  career. 
According  to  Luttrell,  his  effects  were  valued  at 
£200,000,  and  one  witness  alone,  Cogi  Baba,  a 
Persian  merchant,  charged  him  with  robbing  him 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        347 

in  the  Persian  Gulf  of  £60,000.  No  case  was  made 
out  against  the  above  mentioned  peers.  Lord  Or- 
ford  set  up  in  his  defence  that  in  Kidd's  affair  he 
had  acted  legally,  and  with  a  good  intention  towards 
the  public,  though  to  his  own  loss ;  and  Lord 
Somers  denied  that  he  had  ever  seen  or  known 
anything  of  Kidd.  Hume  sums  up  the  matter  by 
declaring  that  "  the  Commons  in  the  whole  course 
of  the  transaction  had  certainly  acted  from  motives 
of  faction  and  revenge."  Other  ventures  are  of 
interest. 

John  Gow,  who  took  the  piratical  name  of  Cap- 
tain Smith,  was  second  mate  of  the  George  galley, 
which  he  conspired  with  half  the  crew  to  seize  when 
on  the  voyage  to  Santa  Cruz.  On  a  given  signal, 
the  utterance  of  a  password,  "  Who  fires  first  ?  " 
an  attack  was  made  on  the  first  mate,  surgeon,  and 
supercargo,  whose  throats  were  cut.  The  captain, 
hearing  a  noise,  came  on  deck,  when  one  mutineer 
cut  his  throat,  and  a  second  fired  a  couple  of  balls 
into  his  body.  The  ship's  company  consisted  of 
twenty :  four  were  now  disposed  of,  eight  were 
conspirators,  and  of  the  remaining  eight,  some  of 
whom  had  concealed  themselves  below  decks  and 
some  in  the  shrouds,  four  had  joined  the  pirates. 
The  other  four  were  closely  watched,  and  although 
allowed  to  range  the  ship  at  pleasure,  were  often 
cruelly  beaten.  The  ship  was  rechristened  The 
Revenge;  she  mounted  several  guns,  and  the  pirates 
steered  her  for  the  coast  of  Spain,  where  several 


348  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

prizes  were  taken  —  the  first  a  ship  laden  with 
salted  cod  from  Newfoundland,  the  second  a  Scotch 
ship  bound  to  Italy  with  a  cargo  of  pickled  herrings, 
the  third  a  French  ship  laden  with  oil,  wine,  and 
fruit.  The  pirates  also  made  a  descent  upon  the 
Portuguese  coast  and  laid  the  people  under  con- 
tributions. 

Dissensions  now  arose  in  the  ship's  company. 
Gow  had  a  certain  amount  of  sense  and  courage, 
but  his  lieutenant  was  a  brutal  ruffian,  often  blinded 
by  passion,  and  continually  fermenting  discord. 
At  last  he  attempted  to  shoot  Gow,  but  his  pistol 
missed  fire,  and  he  was  wounded  himself  by  two 
of  the  pirates.  He  sprang  down  to  the  powder- 
room  and  threatened  to  blow  up  the  ship,  but  he 
was  secured,  and  put  on  board  a  vessel  which  had 
been  ransacked  and  set  free,  the  commander  of  it 
being  desired  to  hand  the  pirate  over  to  the  first 
king's  ship  he  met,  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  his 
crimes.  After  this  the  pirates  steered  north  for  the 
Orkneys,  of  which  Gow  was  a  native,  and  after  a 
safe  passage  anchored  in  a  bay  of  one  of  the  islands. 
While  lying  there  one  of  his  crew,  who  had  been 
forced  into  joining  them,  escaped  to  Kirkwall, 
where  he  gave  information  to  a  magistrate,  and  the 
sheriff  issued  a  precept  to  the  constables  and  others 
to  seize  The  Revenge.  Soon  afterwards  ten  more 
of  the  crew,  also  unwilling  members  of  it,  laid 
hands  on  the  long-boat,  and  reaching  the  mainland 
of    Scotland,    coasted    along    it    as    far    as    Leith, 


HIGHWAYMEN    AND    PIRATES        349 

whence  they  made  their  way  to  Edinburgh,  and 
were  imprisoned  as  pirates.  Gow  meanwhile,  care- 
less of  danger,  lingered  in  the  Orkneys,  plunder- 
ing and  ransacking  the  dwelling-houses  to  provide 
himself  with  provisions,  and  carrying  off  plate, 
linen,  and  all  valuables  on  which  they  could  lay 
hands. 

Arriving  at  an  island  named  Calf  Sound,  Gow 
planned  the  robbery  of  an  old  schoolmate,  a  Mr. 
Fea,  whom  he  sought  to  entrap.  But  Mr.  Fea 
turned  the  tables  upon  him.  Inviting  Gow  and 
several  of  the  crew  to  an  entertainment  on  shore, 
while  they  were  carousing  Mr.  Fea  made  his  serv- 
ants seize  the  pirates'  boat,  and  then  entering  by 
different  doors,  fell  upon  the  pirates  themselves, 
and  made  all  prisoners.  The  rest,  twenty-eight  in 
number,  who  were  still  afloat,  were  also  captured  by 
various  artifices,  and  the  whole,  under  orders  of 
the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  were  despatched  to  the 
Thames  in  H.  M.  S.  Greyhound,  for  trial  at  the 
Admiralty  Court.  They  were  committed  to  the 
Marshalsea,  thence  to  Newgate,  and  arraigned  at 
the  Old  Bailey,  where  Gow  refused  to  plead,  and 
was  sentenced  to  be  pressed  to  death.  He  pre- 
tended that  he  wished  to  save  an  estate  for  a  rela- 
tion; but  when  all  preparations  for  carrying  out 
the  sentence  were  completed,  he  begged  to  be  al- 
lowed to  plead,  and  "  the  judge  being  informed, 
humanely  granted  his  request."  Gow  and  six 
others  were  eventually  hanged  at  Execution  Dock. 


350  CHRONICLES    OF    NEWGATE 

Pirates  who  fell  in  with  ships  usually  sought  to 
gain  recruits  among  the  captured  crews.  The  al- 
ternative was  to  walk  the  plank  or  to  be  set 
adrift  in  an  open  boat,  or  landed  on  an  uninhabited 
island.  For  those  who  thus  agreed  under  compul- 
sion a  still  harder  fate  was  often  in  store.  Captain 
Massey  was  an  unfortunate  instance  of  this. 
While  serving  in  the  Royal  African  Company  he 
was  for  some  time  engaged  in  the  construction  of 
a  fort  upon  the  coast  with  a  detachment  of  men. 
They  ran  short  of  food,  and  suffered  frightfully 
from  flux.  When  at  the  point  of  death  a  passing 
ship  noticed  their  signals  of  distress,  and  sent  a  boat 
on  shore  to  bring  them  on  board.  The  ship  proved 
to  be  a  pirate.  Captain  Massey  did  not  actually 
join  them,  but  he  remained  on  board  while  several 
prizes  were  taken.  However,  he  gave  infonnation 
at  Jamaica,  the  pirate  captain  and  others  were  ar- 
rested and  hanged,  and  Captain  Massey  received 
the  thanks  of  the  governor,  who  offered  him  an 
appointment  on  the  island.  But  Massey  was  anx- 
ious to  return  to  England,  whither  he  proceeded 
armed  with  strong  letters  of  recommendation  to 
the  lords  of  the  Admiralty.  To  his  intense  sur- 
prise, "  instead  of  being  caressed  he  w^as  taken  into 
custody,"  tried,  and  eventually  executed.  His  case 
evoked  great  sympathy.  "  His  joining  the  pirates 
was  evidently  an  act  of  necessity,  not  choice,"  and 
he  took  the  earliest  opportunity  of  giving  up  his 
involuntary   associates   to   justice  —  a   conduct   by 


HIGHWAYMEN   AND    PIRATES        351 

which  he  surely  merited  the  thanks  of  his  country, 
and  not  the  vengeance  of  the  law. 

From  the  foregoing  account  it  is  easy  to  draw 
conclusions  concerning  the  state  of  public  morals 
and  manners  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Both  the 
atrocity  of  the  crimes  and  the  barbarity  of  the  pun- 
ishments surpass  everything  the  twentieth  century 
can  show,  while  to  the  populace  generally  the  high- 
wayman and  the  bully  were  heroes.  Though  our 
century  is  by  no  means  free  from  crime,  we  may 
congratulate  ourselves  that  we  have  advanced  be- 
yond the  eighteenth,  at  least  so  far  as  crimes  of 
violence  are  concerned. 


END   OF   VOLUME   I. 


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